Kazakhstan's Slavs feel the squeeze ethnic tensions. Arrest of alleged russian separatists provokes nationalism debate
Ethnic balance in Kazakhstan is fragile

Charles CLOVER

The arrest of what Kazakhstan's authorities claim is a group of armed Russian separatists has provoked debate about the fragile ethnic balance in the country, which is divided between a mainly ethnic Russian north and a mainly ethnic Kazakh south.

On Saturday 22 people, including 12 Russian citizens, were arrested in the north-eastern industrial city of Ust-Kamenogorsk on suspicion of preparing a separatist coup.

Authorities said they had found a cache of arms belonging to the group, which they say had planned to seize regional governors' offices and security and police buildings in the city.

"Their apparent aim was to establish a 'Russian land' in the area, separate from Kazakhstan," said Viktor Kunin of the National Security Committee.

Mainstream Russian nationalists in Kazakhstan, while disavowing any separatist ideas or links to the group, nevertheless say they are not surprised by the incident. The combination of a worsening economy, increasing discrimination against Russians and gradual erosion of political rights under the authoritarian President Nursultan Nazarbayev may have unpredictable consequences, they say.

"I would say the ethnic situation is calm overall, but there is certainly a rise in nationalist feeling among Slavs here in Kazakhstan," said Gennady Belekov, the head of Russkaya Obschina, a Russian cultural association in Kazakhstan. Many Kazakh government officials privately express concern about what may happen once Russian President Boris Yeltsin, considered the main guarantor against renewed Russian imperialism in former Soviet territories, steps down next year. While 1.5m ethnic Russians have emigrated since Kazakhstan became independent in 1991, they still account for 30 per cent of the population, living mostly in the north.

Mr Nazarbayev has done his best to create an ethnically homogenous homeland for both Kazakhs and Slavs. For example, he has named the national university after Lev Gumilev, a Russian ethnologist who championed the idea that Eurasia's Slavic and Moslem populations were destined to unite.

But as the Kazakh government tries to redress the old Soviet prejudices against Kazakhs in jobs and education, many ethnic Russians feel discriminated against. Many Russians believe they cannot rely on democratic institutions to safeguard their civil rights. Parliamentary elections in October were marred by official obstruction of opposition parties and bias by ballot counters, according to the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe.

Ethnic Russians had tried to organise an election bloc out of Russkaya Obschina, Mr Belekov's association. It was not registered as a political party due to Kazakhstan's law on organisations, which forbids parties organised on "national" principles. The members of Russkaya Obschina ran as individual candidates instead, though none won seats.

Murat Auezov, an ethnic Kazakh and a respected intellectual, said: "Kazakhstan's Slavic population may have started to lose the belief that in Kazakhstan one can defend one's rights in a civilised way. I think Slavic or Russian separatism has the potential to transform into a powerful threat as a result."