Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia Establish Eurasian Union

With the milestone agreement to create a Eurasian economic union clinched in Kazakhstan on Thursday, Russia put cheap energy resources at the head of its drive to pull former Soviet states away from European integration and into its orbit. The Eurasian Economic Union agreement, signed by the leaders of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan in the Kazakh capital of Astana, will come into force on Jan. 1, 2015. It anticipates the gradual integration of the three former Soviet countries' economies, establishing free trade, unbarred financial interaction and unhindered labor migration. The pact combines the previous agreements reached between the three countries under the Customs Union and the Single Economic Space, which were formed in 2010 and 2011, and have been generally considered a success. At the signing ceremony, President Vladimir Putin said "Today we are creating a powerful center of gravity for economic development, a large regional market that unites more than 170 million people," according to an official transcript. He also stressed that the union's combined territory is a hydrocarbon treasury, possessing one-fifth of all global natural gas resources and 15 percent of all oil reserves. Russia's gain in entering the Eurasian union is more political than economic — particularly as Russia is still smarting from the recent failure of its attempts to draw Ukraine into the Customs Union. As for Kazakhstan and Belarus, they are pursuing their own economic interests rather than any dream of forming super-state between Europe and Asia, both their leaders and analysts said.

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/business/article/for-russia-eurasian-union-is-about-politics-not-economy/501126.html

UK Court Orders Fugitive Kazakh Tycoon to Pay Out $400 mln to Kazakh Bank

London’s High Court ordered fugitive ex-banker Mukhtar Ablyazov to pay damages Tuesday amounting to approximately $400 million. Ablyazov formerly served as the chairman of BTA Bank, which is described in Tuesday’s judgment as a major Kazakh bank that effectively nationalized in February 2009. The bank has filed 11 separate sets of proceedings in England and Wales seeking to recover upwards of $5 billion – money that the bank claims was fraudulently misappropriated by Ablyazov when he was at the helm. Specifically, the bank alleges that acting in concert with various other members of the bank’s former leadership, Ablyazov misappropriated funds for his own benefit by use of a network of offshore companies. He was granted political asylum in Britain in 2011. However, according to the judgment – he has “remained a fugitive from justice since February 2012.” His whereabouts remained unknown until he was detained on July 31 near Cannes, France. Kazakhstan, Russia, and Ukraine are all seeking his extradition.

http://rapsinews.com/judicial_news/20131127/269868046.html

Kazakhstan Blocks ConocoPhillips Oil Deal

Kazakhstan will spend $5 billion to buy US energy major ConocoPhillips’ stake in the offshore Kashagan oil field, one of largest oil deposits discovered in recent decades, Reuters reported. Houston-based ConocoPhillips announced last year its plans to sell its stake in the much-delayed project to the state-owned Indian company Oil and Natural Gas Corp. But Kazakhstan’s Oil and Gas Ministry officially blocked the deal Tuesday by announcing that it was exercising the government’s right to preemptively purchase an 8.4-percent stake in the Kashagan development consortium. Lyazzat Kiinov, head of the state-controlled KazMunaiGas energy company, said Chinese state-owned energy company CNPC would now purchase a stake in Kashagan instead, Reuters reported. The Kashagan oil field, located in Kazakh sector of the Caspian Sea, is widely described as the largest field discovered in the past 30 years and the largest outside the Middle East.

http://en.ria.ru/business/20130703/182043865/Kazakhstan-Blocks-ConocoPhillips-Kashagan-Oil-Deal.html

Russian Rocket Crashes Seconds After Launch, Toxic Fuel Alight

A Russian Proton-M rocket carrying three Glonass satellites veered off course seconds after its launch from Kazakhstan’s Baikonur space center early Tuesday, crashing in a large fireball. “There was an accident during the Proton-M launch. The rocket fell and exploded on the territory of the launch site,” a spokesman for Russia’s Federal Space Agency Roscosmos said. There were no reported casualties, but officials said a cloud of poisonous smoke was generated by the rocket’s burning fuel and could spread across the local area. An emergency evacuation of personnel at the site was underway, according to Russian media reports. The reasons for the crash were not immediately clear, but Kazakhstan’s Emergencies Ministry said a near instantaneous failure of the rocket’s first-stage engine was to blame. Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has ordered a governmental commission to be formed to look into the causes of the crash and present a list of officials responsible for the accident, said his press secretary, Natalya Timakova.

http://en.ria.ru/russia/20130702/182002715/Russian-Proton-M-Rocket-Falls-Shortly-After-Launch.html
http://echo.msk.ru/blog/echomsk/1106726-echo/ (video)

US Comedy Show Mocks Kerry for ‘Kyrzakhstan’ Flub

US Secretary of State John Kerry has referred to the nonexistent country “Kyrzakhstan” in a speech last week—an apparent blend of the Central Asian nations Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. Kerry’s slip-up came during a Feb. 20 speech at the University of Virginia in which he praised the “brave employees” of the State Department and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). “They support democratic institutions in Kyrzakhstan and Georgia, mindful from our own experience that it takes a long time to get democracy right, and that it rarely happens right away,” Kerry told the audience. Late night television talk show host David Letterman on Tuesday night lampooned Kerry’s gaffe on the CBS network’s “The Late Show” in one of the comedian’s famous Top 10 lists.

http://en.ria.ru/art_living/20130227/179719518/US-Comedy-Show-Mocks-Kerry-for-Kyrzakhstan-Flub.html (video)

Fugitive Kazakh Banker Loses Final Appeal in UK

The UK Supreme Court has rejected former BTA Chairman Mukhtar Ablyazov’s last-chance appeal of a judgment prohibiting him from defending himself against BTA Bank’s claims due to serious contempt of the court and failure to turn himself into British authorities, according to a copy of the order obtained by RAPSI Tuesday. Notably, an appeal representing his interests has been filed by Ablyazov’s attorneys although the man himself remains missing. According to the order, Ablyazov’s appeal failed to “raise an arguable point of law of general public importance which ought to be considered by the Supreme Court at this time.” The court further ordered Ablyazov to pay BTA’s legal costs in connection with the appeal. BTA Bank Managing Director Pavel Prosyankin lauded the decision in a statement issued Tuesday: “Today’s decision marks the end of Mr Ablyazov’s legal manoeuvring and will expedite the enforcement of the significant judgments we have won. The Supreme Court’s decision reinforces the Bank’s ability to start to reverse the processes by which Mr Ablyazov fraudulently diverted assets from the Bank. We remain committed to the process to help restore the Bank’s financial standing which was devastated by Mr Ablyazov’s actions.” BTA’s case against Ablyazov was launched in early 2009 after the Kazakh government acquired a stake in BTA and the bank came under the control of its Samruk-Kazyna Sovereign Fund. Its by-then former chairman Ablyazov fled the country at that point, heading to the UK. Since then, BTA Bank has filed 11 claims against its former chairman, totaling approximately $6 billion.

http://www.rapsinews.com/judicial_news/20130226/266535432.html

Meteorite Hits Russian City

A meteorite shower has hit three regions of Russia, and Kazakhstan, Russian Emergencies Ministry officials confirmed on Friday morning. In one affected Russian region, Chelyabinsk, the authorities have received numerous calls reporting injuries received as a result of the meteorite fall, and 20,000 emergency response workers have been mobilized. Background radiation levels reportedly remain unchanged. Reports vary about whether this was one larger meteorite, or many smaller ones. “Verified information indicates that this was one meteorite which burned up as it approached Earth and disintegrated into smaller pieces” deputy head of the Russian Emergencies Ministry press office, Elena Smirnykh said.

http://en.ria.ru/russia/20130215/179481049/Meteorite-Shower-Hits-Russia-Kazakhstan.html
http://www.echo.msk.ru/blog/echomsk/1012380-echo/ (video)
http://www.echo.msk.ru/blog/echomsk/1012336-echo/ (photo, video)

UPDATE:
1,000 injured in meteorite explosion
http://www.lenta.ru/news/2013/02/15/muchmore/
Lawmaker: The blast was US weapon test
http://en.ria.ru/russia/20130215/179489080/Russian-Politician-Denies-Meteorite-Claims-US-Weapons-Tests.html

Kazakhstan May Join WTO in 2013

Kazakhstan may join the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2013, WTO Director-General Pascal Lami said on Thursday. Kazakhstan is currently at an advanced stage of WTO entry negotiations and could complete accession this year, Lami said on the sidelines of the Gaidar economic forum in Moscow. Belarus is at a less advanced stage of WTO negotiations, Lami said, adding he could not specify a timeframe for its entry into the WTO. The ex-Soviet states of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan are members of the Customs Union and need to exist within a single trading regime. Russia has been a WTO member for several months now and Kazakhstan and Belarus are de facto forced to comply with many WTO norms, Lami said. Russia officially joined the WTO in August 2012 after 18 years of negotiations, becoming the global trade body’s 156th member.

http://en.ria.ru/business/20130117/178838733.html

Kazakh Jailed for Showing Finger to VIP Motorcade

A 22-year-old resident of Pavlodar, Kazakhstan, was arrested and sentenced to 5 days in jail for an insulting gesture towards a motorcade of a high-ranking official. The man showed a middle finger to the motorcade of the Chairman of the Senate of Kazakhstan. The police noticed the incident and arrested the offender. In court the defendant admitted guilt and declared his repentance. The court said that the defendant "offended, by his conduct, the human dignity of a public person, thereby showing disrespect to other people, disturbed public peace and tranquility of physical persons." As a result, the court found him guilty of "minor hooliganism" and sentenced to five days in prison.

http://www.lenta.ru/news/2013/01/14/finger/
http://tengrinews.kz/strange_news/za-nepristoynyiy-jest-korteju-senatora-arestovan-jitel-pavlodara-226597/
http://newskaz.ru/regions/20130114/4607170.html

Kazakh President Opposes Wearing of Hijabs

Wearing hijabs is not in line with Kazakh traditions, President Nursultan Nazarbayev stated.  “We shouldn’t let Kazakhstan’s people move backwards. We (the Kazakhs) are Sunni Muslims and we have a path of our own. Wearing Arabic hijabs and sending our women back to the Middle Ages is not our path. (…) Elderly ladies have their own well-established preferences in terms of clothes and head covers. Let them decide for themselves what to wear. However, young people wouldn’t turn to wearing hijabs out of their own choice if they weren’t instructed to (…)”, the President believes.

http://en.tengrinews.kz/religion/Wearing-Arabic-hijabs-and-sending-our-women-back-to-the-Middle-Ages-is-not-our-14583/
http://lenta.ru/news/2012/11/16/nazarbaev/

HRW Supports Jailed Kazakh Opposition Leader

Influential international organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) published a statement in support of Vladimir Kozlov, a leader of the Kazakhstan opposition who was sentenced to 7.5 years of imprisonment on "inciting social discord" charges. The sentence strikes a blow to freedom of expression and pluralism of political voices in Kazakhstan, HRW said. On October 8, 2012, the Aktau City Court in western Kazakhstan found Kozlov, 52, head of the unregistered opposition political party Alga!, guilty of “inciting social discord,” “calling for the forcible overthrow of the constitutional order,” and “creating and leading an organized group with the aim of committing one or more crimes.” The conviction followed an investigation shrouded in secrecy and an unfair trial, according to HRW. The charges relate to Kozlov’s alleged role in violent clashes that took place in western Kazakhstan in December 2011 following extended labor strikes. Kozlov maintains his innocence and intends to appeal the verdict.

http://www.hrw.org/news/2012/10/09/kazakhstan-opposition-leader-jailed
http://www.gazeta.ru/politics/news/2012/10/09/n_2563649.shtml

Ukraine Wraps up Investigation of Putin Assassination Attempt

Ukraine has finished investigating the criminal case against Kazakhstan national Ilya Pyanzin and Chechen Adam Osmayev, the individuals suspected of planning the assassination of Russia's leading politicians, including then-Prime Minister and current President, Vladimir Putin.  Russia will most likely seek to extradite the suspects via the Prosecutor General's Office after the Ukrainian court has passed judgment on them. If the suspects are sentenced to prison, Russia will probably push for them to serve their terms first in Ukraine and to then serve further punishment in Russia. The media reports that the suspects planned to assassinate Putin after the March 4 presidential elections. Pyanzin and Osmayev were arrested in Ukraine, where they were charged with planning an act of terrorism and being members of a terrorist group.

http://www.rapsinews.com/judicial_news/20120724/263902471.html

Tajikistan, Turkmenistan Ban "The Dictator"

Tajikistan has decided not to screen Sacha Baron Cohen's latest spoof blockbuster, The Dictator, after authorities concluded the movie was incompatible with the nation's mentality. Turkmenistan is also unlikely to show the comedy, though it is being released in other former Soviet republics. The film features Baron Cohen as General Aladeen, the tyrannical ruler of a fictitious country. In 2006 Kazakhstan banned Borat, another Baron Cohen comedy depicting a Kazakh journalist who travels to the US to marry Pamela Anderson.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2012/may/18/tajikistan-bans-dictator-baron-cohen
http://www.lenta.ru/news/2012/05/18/dictator/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYplvwBvGA4 (official trailer)

Kazakh Court Convicts 47 Islamists

A court in the Atyrau Region of Kazakhstan has found 47 people guilty of terrorist activities and sentenced them to prison terms varying from 5 to 15 years. The trial proceeded behind closed doors. Two bomb attacks rocked Atyrau on October 31, 2011, and two criminal cases were opened on terrorism charges. Five people were held accountable under one of these cases and 42 under the other. The investigation found that the bombings were committed by a radical organization called Caliphate Soldiers set up by Kazakh citizens fighting for Afghan insurgents and hiding abroad.

http://www.interfax-religion.com/?act=news&div=9280

Borat's Version of Kazakh Anthem Played at Kuwait Medal Ceremony

Kazakhstan's shooting team was taken by surprise when a spoof national anthem from the film Borat was used at a medal ceremony in Kuwait. The spoof song was taken from Sacha Baron Cohen's 2006 film, "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan." The team demanded an apology after the obscene song, which features lyrics about prostitutes and potassium exports, was played while Maria Dmitrienko received her gold medal. The blunder apparently occurred after the event's organisers downloaded the parody from the internet by mistake. They also got the Serbian anthem wrong. An apology was issued and the ceremony staged again. However, the Kazakhstan Foreign Ministry has demanded "a thorough investigation of the incident."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-17491344
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/mar/23/borat-kazakhstan-anthem-kuwait-medal-ceremony
http://www.lenta.ru/news/2012/03/26/anthem/
http://youtu.be/B39cenrIQW0 (video)

Mass Disorders in Kazakhstan Leave 15 Dead

At least 14 people have been killed in violent clashes between police and demonstrators in an oil town in western Kazakhstan on the 20th anniversary of the country's independence. Hundreds of workers who have been sacked from oilfields near Zhanaozen have been protesting since May over pay and conditions. They had occupied the main square in the town, and the trigger for the violence may have been when police moved in to clear it for the Independence Day celebrations. Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev declared a state of emergency in the town. Later the disorders continued in the town of Shetpe, leaving one more dead. Dozens are reported wounded or arrested. The UN called on the Kazakh authorities to investigate the incident and to refrain from the excessive use of force.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/kazakhstan/8961669/Oil-worker-riot-kills-10-in-Kazakhstan.html (video)
http://lenta.ru/news/2011/12/19/deathtoll/
http://youtu.be/QipuMCU1QzI (video)

Google Accuses Kazakhstan of Creating “Fractured Internet”

Google decided to redirect all visitors of its Kazakhstan site, google.kz, to a page in Kazakh at google.com, after the Kazakh Ministry of Communications and Information issued an order requiring all .kz domain names to operate on physical servers within Kazakhstan. “We find ourselves in a difficult situation: creating borders on the web raises important questions for us not only about network efficiency but also about user privacy and free expression. If we were to operate google.kz only via servers located inside Kazakhstan, we would be helping to create a fractured Internet. So we have decided to redirect users that visit google.kz to google.com in Kazakh. Unfortunately, this means that Kazakhstani users will experience a reduction in search quality as results will no longer be customized for Kazakhstan,” Google's senior vice president Bill Coughran commented in a blog post.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/229738/google_redirects_kazakh_search_traffic.html
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/06/changes-to-open-internet-in-kazakhstan.html


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Kazakh Diplomat Attempts to Hijack Plane

A Kazakh diplomat was detained in Rome after trying to hijack a plane and force it to fly to Libyan capital Tripoli. A flight attendant was lightly wounded in the incident. Valery Tolmachev serves as an advisor to Kazakhstan’s envoy to UNESCO. On an Alitalia flight from Paris to Rome, he took a flight attendant hostage using a nail file (other sources say manicure scissors or a small Swiss Army knife), demanding to fly to Tripoli. He was overpowered and sedated by crewmembers. After the airplane landed in Rome, Tolmachev was taken into Italian police custody. Colleagues speculate that he was suffering from a nervous breakdown.

http://rt.com/news/kazakh-diplomat-plane-fly/
http://www.vesti.ru/videos?vid=333603 (video)

Six Kazakh Supreme Court Justices Dismissed over Corruption Charges

Kazakhstan’s Senate (parliament’s upper chamber), acting upon a petition from President Nursultan Nazarbayev, dismissed six Supreme Court judges related to corruption charges recently brought against them. The charges allege that the judges “entered judgments in favor of private persons in breach of rights of citizens and the state.” Senators also recommended that Supreme Court Chairman Musabek Alimbekov resign voluntarily. http://gazeta.ru/news/lenta/2011/04/14/n_1793913.shtml http://www.zakon.kz/209607-predsedatelju-verkhovnogo-suda.html

Kyrgyzstan to Join Customs Union

The Kyrgyz government decided to join the Customs Union of Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan, created in 2010. “God willing, we will be in the Common Economic Space from January 1,[ 2012,]” Kyrgyz Prime Minister Almazbek Atanbayev stated. Atanbayev also stressed that, although it is joining the Customs Union, Kyrgyzstan will remain a WTO member. http://kg.akipress.org/news:354181