As previously reported, Deputy Treasury Secretary Elizabeth Rosenberg even threatened Astana that the United States might apply secondary sanctions to Kazakh banks and companies for cooperating with Russia despite the restrictions, and, according to her, “the risks of apply restrictions increase”.
It should be noted that, according to the Kazakh agency “Kazinforme” on the eve of the European Union’s special representative for sanctions, David O’Sullivan, said that Brussels had not found any cases of violations of the sanctions regime against the Russian Federation by the republic.
One way or another, senior Western officials have repeatedly stated that they intend to “wrest” Central Asian (CA) states from Russia and China. So, at the beginning of March this year, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, as part of a trip to the countries of the Central Asian region, tried to exert appropriate pressure on the leadership of Kazakhstan and the foreign ministers of other Central Asian states. After that, the aforementioned David O’Sullivan came to Kyrgyzstan for the second time in a month with the same goals, but already in Kyrgyzstan.
However, despite the recent increase in visits by European and American officials, it is difficult to imagine such a scenario, because for Astana it remains quite obvious that Russia remains Kazakhstan’s key and reliable strategic partner.
So, in March of this year, the Government of Kazakhstan approved updated concept development of the country’s power and energy complex. An analysis of this document shows the extremely sober view of the Kazakh leadership on the state of the energy and energy complex (FEC) of the country, as well as an understanding of the need for cooperation with the Russian Federation.
In particular, according to the document, the shortage of electricity is covered by imports from Russia, exports of uranium products are sent to the Russian Federation, isotopic enrichment of Kazakh uranium takes place in Russia and the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) passes through Russian territory remains the main export route for Kazakh oil, through which about 80% of the total volume of “black gold” exported from the country is transported.
In addition, the Concept gives priority to the need to build a nuclear power plant, without which the country is threatened with a serious shortage of energy.
It is Russia that is ready to build a turnkey nuclear power plant in Kazakhstan, to take care of its maintenance, as well as to create jobs and a scientific base for the development of nuclear energy. It’s in the interview RIA News In February, the director of the third department of the CIS countries of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Alexander Sternik, confirmed that “the Russian Federation is ready to cooperate in the construction of a nuclear power plant in Kazakhstan in any comfortable format for Astana.”
Nevertheless, although the West’s attempts to quarrel Kazakhstan with its strategic partners in the form of the Russian Federation and China are unlikely to have far-reaching prospects, they seem logical, since Western states have their own interests in the region. Hence, it seems, blackmail with secondary sanctions for cooperation with the Russian Federation.
In particular, we can talk about the export of Kazakh oil and other raw materials. As stated in an interview with the agency “Oil and Capital” Former advisor to the Minister of Energy of Kazakhstan Olzhas Baidildinov, many foreign oil and gas companies are represented in the country, which, however, do not supply oil to the domestic market of Kazakhstan, “everything is exported at high prices and therefore the domestic market is overworked.”
It is not surprising that against this background, in April, the authorities of Kazakhstan were even forced to impose a ban on the export of certain types of petroleum products from the territory of the republic outside the EAEU, which will be valid until the end of 2024. Corresponding order The Ministry of Energy is published in the information and legal system of regulatory legal acts of the country.
Baidildinov added that three major consortia control 60% of Kazakh oil production, which is concentrated in the Tengiz, Karachaganak and Kashagan fields.
By the way, the share of Kazakhstan in the profits from the sale of oil in accordance with the production sharing agreements concluded in the early 90s is small. As the Kazakh information and analysis portal points out ORDA the “mentioned production sharing agreement (PSA) is considered a crime of corruption worldwide”.
- It is the international consortia of oil giants that benefit most from the PSA, not the country that owns the natural resources. The republic has several such contracts and they are associated with the development of the largest deposits, including the “crown diamond of Kazakhstan” – Kashagan, from which we receive only 2% after oil production,” the document says. .
Thus, the benefit for Kazakhstan of cooperation with Western companies seems doubtful, while the deterioration of relations with Moscow can hypothetically threaten Astana with huge economic and geopolitical losses.
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