The kremlin Is Willing to Ignore the Problems of Its Own Citizens Just to Maintain a Good Image Abroad

russia is doing its best to maintain its presence and influence in Kazakhstan. One of the key tools for this is the recently approved project to build Kazakhstan’s first nuclear power plant near Lake Balkhash. The NPP itself is scheduled to begin operations in the mid-2030s, while the total cost of the turnkey project is $16.4 billion.

At first glance, this seems like a decent attempt to return to the previous level of cooperation, but one crucial detail undermines the entire picture: the construction will be financed through an “export credit from the rf”. This was emphasized by Head of the Agency of the Republic of Kazakhstan for Atomic Energy Almasadam Satkaliyev. russians understand the paradoxical nature of the situation, which is developing according to the principle of “I dance to my own tune”, so they tried to somewhat reassure the domestic public through a statement by head of “rosatom” aleksei likhachev. likhachev hinted at Kazakhstan’s participation in the financing, though he could not specify the exact share, while acknowledging that russia would bear the main investment burden.

These events are unfolding against the background of the collapse of the kremlin’s myth about an “unsinkable economy that only benefits from sanctions”. In reality, however, there has been a record decrease in GDP to a meager 0.4%, the curtailment of social programs across the country, and a massive state budget deficit, which reached nearly 6 trillion rubles by early May. Given that moscow, despite all these troubles, has no plans to reduce funding for the “defense sector” (which is budgeted at the level of 62 regions of the rf and amounts to 12.9 trillion rubles), the allocation of funds for a global project in Kazakhstan seems strange, to say the least.

As always, the russian people remain the main payers for all the kremlin’s whims – in the near future, the population will face approved increases in utility rates, tariffs for gas, and electricity. However, another fact is telling: the rf has not secured a monopoly on Kazakhstan’s nuclear energy sector. To maintain a “friendly balance”, the contract to build yet another NPP in the country was awarded to the Chinese company CNNC.