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8 ноября 2024
Paolo Sorbello, photo from Электронный Талгар (Flickr)

The Week in Kazakhstan: Buried in the Sand

Kazatomprom looks into pollution allegations, the government plans new bill on renewables.

The Week in Kazakhstan: Buried in the Sand

Justice minister Azamat Yeskarayev told Parliament on November 6 that the government will ready 19 new laws for 2025, including one on renewable energy sources. Despite more optimistic plans, Kazakhstan is still far from its energy transition objective of producing 15% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030.

Residents of Talgar will elect a new mayor on December 15, the local administration said on November 8. The former mayor was fired after the brutal murder of a 16-year-old in October. Khasan Kassymbayev, the alleged leader of the ‘Khutorskie’ organized crime group accused of the murder, was arrested on November 2 and put on pre-trial detention for two months.

Planned maintenance at the giant offshore Kashagan oilfield in October led to a 20% country-wide drop in production compared to the previous month. The OPEC+ group of oil-rich countries had set stringent quotas for Kazakhstan to abide by in an effort to keep global oil prices high. Reuters sources said on November 1 this would mean that Kazakhstan complied with the quota. Notably, Kazakhstan is on track to produce 88 million tons in 2024, a 2% drop compared to last year and to this year’s plan.

Kazatomprom, the state-owned uranium miner, said on November 4 that it launched an internal investigation over a potential spill at one of its mining sites in the southern Turkistan region. In a video shared across social media platforms on October 3, a worker showed how radioactive sand was buried underground, disregarding proper disposal practices.

Labor minister Svetlana Zhakupova said on November 6 that the government is considering halting pension payments to retirees who continue working. In response to Vlast, the ministry said they do not know how many people would be affected by this measure, because they do not have data on “working pensioners”.

A total of more than 400 Caspian seal corpses were washed ashore in the western Mangistau region in the past two weeks. “Their deaths appeared unnatural and sudden,” a specialist at the Institute of Hydrobiology and Ecology said.

In a reply to a request from MPs of the ruling party Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov said the government will not recognize the Feminita NGO as an extremist organization. “Recognizing the LGBT movement as extremist may be regarded by international human rights organizations as a violation of citizens’ rights to freedom of expression and participation in public associations,” Bektenov said.