13 April 2022

Ukraine War Sparks Suspicion over Russia’s Designs on Kazakhstan

Bruce Pannier

When Russian State Duma Deputy Mikhail Delyagin blamed Azerbaijan for violating the ceasefire in the Karabakh region on March 27, he made the outrageous suggestion that Russia could use tactical nuclear weapons to destroy Azerbaijan’s oil industry. On March 29, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitri Peskov said Delyagin’s statement “in no way corresponds and cannot correspond to the official line of the Russian Federation” and called on Delyagin to “control his emotions and refrain from making such statements, more over in regard to our partners, and Azerbaijan belongs in the category of partner-states.”

Kazakhstan is one of Russia’s partner-states, but no Russian official is being rebuked for making comments about taking Kazakh territory.

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