January 2022 Crisis in Kazakhstan as Viewed by Foreign Parliamentarians

УДК 94(574) ББК 63.3(5Каз)6

Abstract

The article is devoted to the ways in which the January 2022 crisis in Kazakhstan were discussed by parliamentarians from 11 states and the European Parliament, identified by searching the websites of 42 parliaments. The author considers such issues as the role of parliaments in foreign policy making, the character and stability of parliamentarians’ interest towards the crisis in Kazakhstan, the issues highlighted while discussing different aspects of this crisis, conclusions and recommendations made. The author argues that the relevant interest of foreign parliamentarians was relatively weak and instable. Some attention to these events was given by parliamentarians of several postSoviet states, including Russia, and of some Western states. Still, even in these cases this interest took the form of value judgements rather than systematic investigations. In Western parliamentary discourses, human rights issues were in the focus from the outset. When other issues were discussed, priority attention was paid to geopolitical and humanitarian issues. As the situation in Kazakhstan stabilized, the focus shifted to social and internal policy issues.