CU made Russia think of power succession in Kazakhstan

Russia is already thinking about longtermness of Kazakhstan’s presence in the Customs Union (CU), which is directly linked to the power succession in Kazakhstan, Director of the Risk Assesment Group, political scientist Dossym Satapayev told Tengrinews.kz. “Russian leaders are probably concerned about continuity of Kazakhstan’s foreign policy after the incumbent president leaves. These concerns related to participation in the CU and CES (Common Economic Space) as well. It is well known that the idea of CU is positioned as Nazarbayev’s idea. Russia is concerned over how long Kazakhstan’s participation in the CU will last with the next presidents, who might have another vision of the CU and have less warm relations with the neighboring country,” the political analyst said. Speaking of the operation of the CU and bad situation with fuel prices in Kazakhstan, Satpayev noted that Kazakhstan’s measures will have a multiplicative effect. “Kazakhstan officials openly talk about equalizing fuel prices with Russian ones, which are, according to those officials, not higher than the prices in Kazakhstan. Meanwhile, fuel prices raise as some kind of a battle with fuel deficiency will automatically cause prices growth in other segments of Kazakhstan’s economy, and this is a direct path to inflation,” Satpayev explained. Inflation will affect vulnerable community groups, who live on fixed allowances, pensions and salaries, the expert continues. “So it turns out that the CU is currently understood by common people as a problem, not a benefit. We are asked to wait, referring to long-term perspectives of the project,” political analyst said. He noted that Russian residents are not receiving great benefits either. Right now, he said, certain benefits are received by members of Russian business with no visible competition and Kazakhstan’s business-structures linked with Russia. Meanwhile, there is no point in refusing from the Custom Union already: the process has started. “The locomotive is already moving and picking-up speed. If we want it to move in the correct direction and not strike a dead-end, we need to have a good map and opportunities to modernize the moving locomotive to receive the expected results,” Satpayev said. By Zhuldyz Seisenbekova