Disinfo: Outside powers prepared the colour revolution in Kazakhstan

Summary

The events in Kazakhstan were well-prepared. It automatically raises questions about who finances, trains and manages the protesters. Also, a surprising coincidence cannot be ignored: the events in Kazakhstan happened a few days before the conversation between Russia and NATO about security guarantees.

Disproof

This claim advances an emerging pro-Kremlin narrative alleging that the January 2022 anti-government protests in Kazakhstan are part of a US policy of staging “colour revolutions” worldwide with the aim of destabilising Russia.

The pro-Kremlin media frequently falsely portray popular protests around the world as instigated from abroad, often by the US and the West. The disinformation narrative has been applied, among others, to reports about protests in Georgia, Ukraine, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Belarus, Venezuela, Slovakia, Hong Kong, with the aim of portraying protest movements as aggressive actors supported by foreign powers who constantly prepare new coups.

The trigger and immediate cause of the protests in Kazakhstan was the government's lifting of price controls on liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) that took place in early January in the Western region of Manghystau and unrest soon spread to the capital.

As the Guardian reports, the official story from the Kremlin began with explanations that the protests were a military coup organised by foreign terrorists. Later the notion of a "colour revolution" is added. However, the narrative is not based on facts and contains from many gaps and inconsistencies.

There are however more deep-rooted causes for the protests in a country that suffers from lack of democracy, corruption and economic difficulties despite being rich in economic resources. For example, Kazakhstan ranks 128 out of 167 countries in the 2020 Democracy Index, and also ranks 94 out of 180 countries in the 2020 Transparency International's Corruption Perception Index (CPI).

See also the statement by the EU High Representative here.

Read also related examples of disinformation claims: US-sponsored Kazakhstan protests aimed to undermine CIS stability, Protests in Kazakhstan are a new Western attempt to organise a colour revolution or EU and US aim to generate a new wave of anti-government protests in Belarus.

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  • Reported in: Issue 269
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 07/01/2022
  • Article language(s) Russian
  • Countries and/or Regions discussed in the disinformation: Kazakhstan, Russia
  • Keywords: Colour revolutions, Conspiracy theory, NATO, West, Provocation
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Disinfo: Events in Kazakhstan are an attempt of Anglo-Saxons to encircle Russia

The same actors, who tried to produce similar results in Belarus, are behind events in Kazakhstan. These are Anglo-Saxons. Their goal is to encircle Russia with hostile countries and to create a zone of instability in the place of Kazakhstan in order to threaten Russia. Local authorities in Kazakhstan are used to spreading Russophobia. Incremental Russophobia has been promoted in Kazakhstan for a long time.

Jan 06, 2022
Disproof

This claim advances an emerging pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative alleging that the January 2022 anti-government protests in Kazakhstan are part of a foreign-inspired and directed plot.

The case seeks to lay the blame on the so-called Anglo-Saxons for the entire unrest in Kazakhstan which is fueled by high gas prices and social discontent in Kazakh society. This narrative is part of a developing wider public campaign to justify Russian-led foreign military deployment in Kazakhstan in the frame of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO).

Disinfo: West arranges puppet governments through colour revolutions

The West succeeded in arranging the 2014 coup in Ukraine, whose borders are only 755 kilometres from Moscow. They set up a puppet government that receives its instructions, policies and strategies from the American embassy in Kyiv. Later the West tried to replicate the same thing in Belarus. It became clear for Russia that there are foreign funds for clients, groups, and institutions working for the West, spreading discontent and anger among the citizens, trying to instigate protests and colour revolutions.

Jan 06, 2022
Disproof

A recurring narrative that Ukraine is influenced by the West and that Euromaidan protests in 2014 were a coup d'etat planned by the West. The article attempts to paint all manifestations of popular discontent as colour revolutions orchestrated from abroad.

There was no coup, let alone a Western-sponsored coup, in Ukraine; this is a longstanding pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about Ukraine's Euromaidan. The spontaneous onset of the Euromaidan protests was a reaction by numerous segments of the Ukrainian population to former president Viktor Yanukovych’s sudden departure from the promised Association Agreement with the European Union in November 2013.

Disinfo: NATO consists of colonial habits, dictatorship of the strong and lack of will of the weak

NATO is an organisation that has no common laws and values. The only thing that unites the Alliance is the mania for enlargement, which has shown all the malignancy of hegemonism.

[...] there is hegemony and colonial habits, a dictatorship of the strong and a lack of will of the weak. The members of this "alliance" have long ceased to be free even in making their own decisions.

Jan 06, 2022
Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about NATO.

The Atlantic Alliance is not a tool for hegemonism or domination but a mutual defence alliance of democratic states aiming to guarantee the freedom and security of its members.