by REGIS GENTE
What’s true of goods is also true of people. In many ways the two countries’ citizens belong to similar cultural traditions. Russian is still widely spoken by the population of 16 million, including by ethnic Kazakhs (5). From Kostanay to Almaty, Aktau to Pavlodar, the most popular tv channels are those beamed from the powerful neighbour. The written word is essentially in Russian, whether for highbrow culture, science, for information or chat. Moscow remains an actor who cannot be avoided.
So Nazarbayev wastes no opportunity to repeat that “Russian affairs are Kazakhstan’s major foreign policy priority” or to underline that exchanges are marked by a “high level of confidence” between the two states. For almost 20 years there has been constant political dialogue on all issues and an uninterrupted flow of high-level delegations. These links are to be found in political life and the institutions. The two countries’ ruling parties, Nur-Otan and United Russia, have signed their own bilateral cooperation accords.
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