Russian Court Cuts Off Kazakhstan's Oil Exports To Europe

The CPC pipeline carries oil from western Kazakhstan to a port on the Black Sea. (map: Transneft)  

DW: Russia targets EU, cutting off Kazakhstan's oil exports 

This week, Moscow halted crude oil exports from Kazakhstan via a Black Sea port. Kazakhstan is the EU's fifth-largest supplier and this effectively reduces oil imports. 

The search is now on for alternative routes. In a telephone conversation on July 4, Kazakhstan's president Kassym-Jomart Tokayev assured EU Council President Charles Michel of his country's support in helping the 27-nation bloc overcome its current energy crisis. 

Only a day later, a district court in Novorossiysk — Russia's biggest Black Sea port — ordered a pipeline coming from Kazakhstan and exporting oil to Europe shut for a month. 

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WNU Editor: A million barrels of oil production per day has just been taken off the world markets. 

This is also happening a few days after Kazakhstan's president Kassym-Jomart Tokayev assured EU Council President Charles Michel of his country's support in helping the 27-nation bloc overcome its current energy crisis. Yeah .... I do not believe in coincidences.

 More News On Russia Cutting Off Kazakhstan's Oil Exports To Europe  

Russia shuts down terminal after Kazakhstan offers to send more oil to the EU -- Euractiv  

Kazakhstan: CPC pipeline shutdown poses serious economic threat -- Eurasianet  

Kazakh President Calls For New Oil Export Routes After Russia Suspends Key Pipeline -- RFE  

After Russian move on pipeline, Kazakhstan says it needs other routes -- Reuters  

Kazakhstan to Reduce Dependence on Russia for Oil Exports -- National Interest

Russia-Led Troops Begin Withdrawal From Kazakhstan

 

ABC News: Russian troops begin leaving Kazakhstan after government restores control 

Russian-led troops began leaving Kazakhstan on Thursday. Russian-led troops sent to help Kazakhstan’s government quell violent protests have begun leaving the country, according to Russia’s defense minister. 

Roughly 2,300 troops were dispatched to Kazakhstan last week by a Moscow-dominated alliance of former Soviet countries, after Kazakhstan’s president appealed for assistance amid the protests that saw his government lose control in the country’s biggest city, Almaty.  

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WNU Editor: I am glad they are leaving. Any long term presence of Russian troops in Kazakhstan will only suck Russia into the mess that is known as Kazakhstan.

Russia-Led Troops Begin Withdrawal From Kazakhstan  

Russian-led troops leaving Kazakhstan -- RT  

CSTO peacekeepers commence handover of Kazakh facilities to national law enforcement -- TASS  

Russia-led bloc starts Kazakhstan pullout after possible coup bid crushed -- Reuters  

Russian-led troops begin withdrawal from Kazakhstan after deadly protest crackdown -- France 24  

Russia-led troops start withdrawing from Kazakhstan -- DW  

Russia-led alliance begins troop pullout from Kazakhstan -- The Hill 

Kazakhstan: Russia-led alliance’s troops prepare to pull out -- AP

Russian Troops To Begin Leaving Kazakhstan In Two Days

 

DW: Kazakhstan: Russia-led troops to start leaving in 2 days 

Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said the pullout as a whole would take less than two weeks. 

He also voiced rare criticism of the country's former leader Nursultan Nazarbayev. 

Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev told parliament on Tuesday that the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) military bloc will start withdrawing its troops from Kazakhstan in two days. 

"The main mission of the CSTO peacekeeping forces has been successfully completed," Tokayev said during a session broadcast live on state television.  

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Russian Troops To Begin Leaving Kazakhstan In Two Days  

Kazakh President Announces CSTO Troop Withdrawal, Criticizes Predecessor -- RFE  

Organized pullout of CSTO contingent from Kazakhstan to begin on January 13, Tokayev says -- TASS 

Kazakhstan’s president says Russian-led bloc will start withdrawing troops -- France 24  

Kazakhstan Says Russian Troops Can Start Leaving This Week -- New York Times  

Kazakhstan: Russian-led military bloc to start withdrawing troops, says president -- The Guardian  

Kazakhstan's president says Russian troops to start leaving this week -- ABC News  

Russian Troops To Begin Leaving Kazakhstan In Two Days: President Tokayev -- Zero Hedge

Russian President Putin Says Russia-Led Military Bloc Will Not Allow ‘Color Revolutions’ in Post-Soviet Countries

Russian President Vladimir Putin participates in an online meeting of the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) focused on the situation in Kazakhstan in the wake of violent protests, at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence, outside Mosco​w 

 

Daily Mail: Putin and Kazakh leader Tokayev blame 'terrorists and bandits' trained abroad for the uprising in Kazakhstan which has seen dozens killed as government claims protests were an attempted 'coup d'etat' that has now been 'quelled' 

* Putin and Tokayev said protests were fuelled by terrorists with foreign backing 

* Tokayev declared that 'order had been restored' after an 'attempted coup d'etat' 

* The past week saw violent unrest in Kazakhstan, especially in the city of Almaty 

* Kazakh authorities today reported 7,939 people were detained and 164 killed 

* It comes amid protests at the Kazakh embassy in Kyrgyzstan this weekend after a famous Kyrgyz jazz musician was arrested and apparently beaten in Almaty 

Russian President Vladimir Putin has declared that the recent unrest in Kazakhstan was fuelled by 'bandits and terrorists' trained abroad, as Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said the country had quelled a coup d'etat. 

In a televised statement this morning, Putin alleged that 'well-organised and well-controlled groups of militants, apparently trained in terrorist camps abroad,' were involved in the unrest. 

Meanwhile, Tokayev said that 'order had been restored' after what he described as an 'attempted coup d'etat fuelled by terrorist aggression'. 

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More News On Russian President Putin's Remarks On Kazakhstan  

Putin claims victory in defending Kazakhstan from revolt -- Reuters  

Kazakhstan crisis attempt to copy 2014 Ukrainian 'Maidan' – Putin -- RT  

Kazakhstan: Putin says Russia will not allow revolutions -- DW  

Russia-Led Military Bloc Will Not Allow ‘Color Revolutions’ in Post-Soviet Countries – Putin -- Moscow Times  

Putin: No More Color Revolutions -- VOA  

Foreign meddling behind Kazakhstan unrest, Putin claims -- The Guardian  

Putin says Kazakhstan saved from foreign-backed uprising -- The Hill 

Russian Troops Will Stay to Finish Job in Kazakhstan, Putin Says -- New York Times Post  

Maidan Technologies Used in Kazakhstan, Putin Says, as Country Faced Threat to Its Statehood -- Sputnik  

Kazakhstan crisis is consequence of US withdrawal from Afghanistan, Russia claims -- RT  

Escape from Almaty: Russian citizens are evacuated from Kazakhstan on military planes following uprising that has left dozens dead as Putin and country’s leader Tokayev blame 'terrorists and bandits' trained abroad for the unrest -- Daily Mail

What The Kazakhstan’s Crisis Means For Russia

 

Isabelle Khurshudyan, Washington Post: Putin dreams of a Russian ‘sphere of influence.’ Kazakhstan’s protesters are the latest to push back. 

MOSCOW — To Russian President Vladimir Putin, the collapse of the Soviet Union “was the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century.” 

He made that statement in 2005, just months after Ukrainians launched their “Orange Revolution” and began to shake off Russia’s influence in the country, spurring Kyiv’s pro-democracy leanings. 

Two years earlier, an uprising in the Caucasus country of Georgia had ousted its Soviet-holdover president. 

Putin dreams of a Russian 'sphere of influence.' Kazakhstan's protesters are the latest to push back. 

Although Putin clings to Soviet nostalgia — and to a self-drawn map of Moscow’s “sphere of influence” that covers much of the former empire — the countries surrounding Russia have other ideas. 

The latest example is sweeping anti-government protests in Kazakhstan that have rattled a political system entrenched for three decades and brought in Russian-led forces to try to keep a lid on the unrest. 

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More News On The Impact That The Kazakhstan’s Crisis Is Having On Russia  

Russia Readies Scores of Transport Planes as Troops Pour Into Kazakhstan -- WSJ  

Kazakhstan unrest not affecting Baikonur Cosmodrome spaceport, Russia says -- Space.com  

Kazakhstan Protests: Russian Troops Are No Solution to Unrest -- Bloomberg  

Kazakhstan riots aim to undermine its integrity, Russian envoy says -- TASS  

Amid crisis, Kazakhstan’s leader chose his path: embrace Russia -- Indian Express  

How the Kremlin views the sudden outbreak of violence in Kazakhstan -- Forex Live  

Putin puts out fires across a former Soviet empire clamoring for change -- Politico  

Russia’s Putin Seizes on Crises to Assert Control Over Former Soviet Republics -- WSJ  

What Kazakhstan's Unrest Means for Russia -- Foreign Policy  

With Ukraine Tensions High, Russia Blames U.S. Wars for Kazakhstan Crisis -- Tom O'Connor, Newsweek 

Resource-rich Kazakhstan invites Putin to guard its henhouse -- Paul Roderick Gregory, The Hill  

Will Putin Put Down the Kazakh Spring? -- The Globalist

The Kazakhstan Crisis Is A Much Bigger Deal Than The Western Media Is Letting On

 

Zero Hedge: Why The Kazakhstan Crisis Is A Much Bigger Deal Than Western Media Is Letting On 

Geopolitical commentator Clint Ehrlich has reported while on the ground in Moscow that "the situation in Kazakhstan is a much bigger deal than Western media is letting on." He further argues that the mayhem unleashed this past week and ongoing violent destabilization significantly increases the risk of NATO-Russia conflict. 

He asks the key question: what really is happening in Kazakhstan? After all, he writes "In America, the situation in Kazakhstan is a small news item" but it remains that "in Moscow, it is currently receiving 24/7 news coverage, like it's an apocalyptic threat to Russia's security. I've had the TV on here while writing this thread, and Kazakhstan has been on the entire time." Below is Ehrlich's mega-thread from Twitter exploring the crisis and connecting the dots in terms of why this is a bigger deal than many believe...  

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WNU Editor: Zero Hedge is right that in Russia this is a news story that is receiving 24/7 news coverage. 

The above post also explains why Kazakhstan is important to Russia. 

Needless to say this is a must read post.

After Ukraine Is Kazakhstan Next?

Image From HITT-CIS

Kazakhstan May Be The Next Ukraine -- Richard Lourie, Moscow Times

After a lapse of more than a century, the Great Game has begun again — in Kiev of all places.

In the 19th century, the Great Game was the rivalry between the British and Russian empires for Central Asia. England was wary that Russia's relentless expansion would one day threaten the jewel in the imperial crown, India. Both sides vied to dominate Central Asia's markets.

The game went into a state of suspension during Soviet times. Some commentators spoke of a new Great Game after the Soviet collapse and the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, but that was more romanticism than realism. There was a jockeying among Russia, China and the U.S. for markets, resources and military bases, but what was lacking was any grand geopolitical design or strategic imperative. All that changed with Kiev.

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My Comment: Kazakhstan is a massive country .... approximately the size of western Europe .... it also has a small population where Russians are predominant in the northern and western parts of the country. But is this the next domino to fall .... I doubt it. The country is stable and prosperous .... and unlike most of it's central Asian neighbors that are embroiled with ethnic tensions or the rise of Islamic extremism .... Kazakhstan has stayed away from such conflicts.