From Reuters:
“Kazakh yurts in Ukraine irk Russia as crowdfunded aid pours
in”
(Volunteers carry a box as they prepare a shipment of aid for
residents of Ukraine, in the village of Kainazar in the Almaty region,
Kazakhstan February 1, 2023.)
Kazakh rights activists sent Ukraine fresh bundles of aid
this week including clothing, medicines - and three huge round multi-coloured
yurts - a not-so coded message of support from the citizens of a country
traditionally close to Moscow. The folkloric nomad tents sent to give
Ukrainians a place to keep warm are part of a steady stream of donations from
Kazakh civic groups that has angered Moscow and tested the Kazakh government's
so far guarded stance on Russia's invasion.
"To us, the yurt is a symbol of a hearth, home, warmth,
comfort, providing shelter to the one who needs it... They asked us for tents
and we decided to bring yurts," said activist Togzhan Kozhaliyeva. She and
fellow activists praise the Astana government for refusing to support Moscow's
military operation, and believe that as private citizens they can go further
and openly support Kyiv. Last month Kazakhstan snubbed a demand from Russia
that it repudiate such initiatives. "They asked us to comment and we said
we saw no reason to do that," a Kazakh foreign ministry spokesman said.
Russia's foreign ministry did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
Since the Soviet Union broke up, Kazakhstan has routinely
been among the first countries to sign up to Moscow's projects, such as a
Eurasian customs union, aimed at reintegrating former Soviet states. A year ago
- just before Russia invaded Ukraine - Astana demonstrated its reliance on
Moscow by briefly inviting in Russian troops to help put down street unrest. But
with Russia's longest land border and a large, if declining, ethnic Russian
population, Kazakhstan is also warier than other neighbours about President
Vladimir Putin's stated policy of using force to protect Russian-speakers
abroad. Most Kazakhs say they don't want to take sides in the Ukraine war,
reflecting their government's position. A poll carried out late last year
showed 22% of Kazakhs supported Ukraine, against 13% for Russia, while 59%
remained neutral.
'WE ARE HELPING OURSELVES'
(Kazakh activist Togzhan Kozhaliyeva, who collects aid for
residents of Ukraine together with members of her group "Nation's
Future", attends an interview in Almaty, Kazakhstan, February 1, 2023.)
But some see the Ukrainian cause as similar to their own.
What happened to Ukraine "could happen to us at any moment", said
Kozhaliyeva. Her "Nation's Future" group started collecting aid the
day after Russia invaded Ukraine, and has raised about $1.5 million in cash and
donated items from about 20,000 people. Kozhaliyeva believes the public
response was strong because many Kazakhs consider Ukraine spiritually and
historically close: the term "Kazakh" has the same origins - in a
Turkic word meaning "free man" - as "cossack", the
semi-military steppe culture embraced in Ukraine. Ukrainians and Kazakhs were
the principal victims of famines in 1930-1933, which historians in both
countries say were engineered by Moscow to kill millions. Both nations later
saw their elites targeted by Stalinist repression. "We are helping
ourselves in the first place by helping Ukraine, we are supporting our
independence, our decolonisation, and the image of our country."
^ These yurts provide a warm place for those displaced by War
- especially during Winter. I’m glad to
see Kazakhstan and the Kazakh People helping. ^
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