Kazakhstan bans entry of five Russian politicians over their hostile remarks

According to Deutsche Welle, citing a source within the Kazakh government, the decision was made in response to public statements by the individuals in question that were deemed offensive and antagonistic toward Kazakhstan and its leadership.

The blacklist includes:

• Pyotr Tolstoy, Deputy Speaker of the Russian State Duma
• Vyacheslav Nikonov, First Deputy Chairman of the Duma Committee on International Affairs
• Yevgeny Fyodorov and Konstantin Zatulin, MPs from the United Russia party
• Yevgeny Primakov, current head of Rossotrudnichestvo and former MP

Tolstoy previously suggested that Kazakhstan could become Russia’s “next problem” after Ukraine. He also referred to Almaty as “the Russian-built city of Verny” and accused Kazakhstan of trying to “invent a new history” to distance itself from Russia.

In a televised speech, Nikonov claimed “Kazakhstan simply does not exist” and described the country’s modern territory as a “gift from Russia and the USSR.” Fyodorov echoed Nikonov’s sentiments and asserted that Russia had the right to reclaim its territories from Kazakhstan. He further claimed that Kazakhstan had never legally left the USSR, suggesting its statehood lacked legitimacy.

Zatulin, in 2022, harshly criticized President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev’s refusal to recognize the independence of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics. He warned that without full cooperation with Russia, “anything could happen,” citing Ukraine as an example.

Primakov accused the Kazakh government of ignoring “anti-Russian nationalist movements” and later refused to work with Kazakh Information Minister Askar Umarov, calling him a “Russophobic scoundrel.”

Deutsche Welle also reported that in addition to the deputies, several other Russian figures were added to the persona non grata list, including propagandists Tina Kandelaki and Tigran Keosayan, political analyst Nikita Mendkovich, “Russian World” ideologue Alexander Dugin, and Russian historian Andrey Grozin.

Grozin, who heads the Kazakhstan and Central Asia section at the CIS Institute, was recently denied entry into Kazakhstan without explanation. He was scheduled to participate in a discussion on April 28 about challenges in Russia-Kazakhstan relations, and a roundtable on April 29 focused on security and humanitarian cooperation between the two countries. However, on April 27, he was barred entry at passport control at Astana Airport.

A similar incident occurred in 2023 when Zatulin, who was then set to attend a space launch at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, was denied entry into Kazakhstan for several hours. The issue was eventually resolved at the time.