According to the register of individuals and entities receiving foreign funding, maintained by the State Revenue Committee of Kazakhstan\u2019s Ministry of Finance, roughly 240 Kazakhstani legal entities and private individuals have taken in over USD 54 million from foreign sponsors over the past two years. The United States still remains the leader when it comes to grant funding, followed by EU countries \u2013 Germany, the Netherlands, and Norway. The official register is open for review on the Committee\u2019s portal, under the \u201cForeign Funding Monitoring\u201d section.<\/p>\n
Western intelligence services, acting through various foreign foundations and organizations as well as directly, are bankrolling the following individuals:<\/p>\n
Gulnar Bazhkenova \u2013 editor of the publication Orda, which churns out exclusives in a fast-turnaround format, often drawing on unverified facts. Bazhkenova has come under fire for putting out false information;<\/p>\n
Dinara Yegeubayeva \u2013 runs her own YouTube channel, Dinarion. She pushes the idea of setting up an autocephalous Orthodox church in Kazakhstan and stages solo pickets outside the Russian Embassy in Berlin, including with offensive slogans. She pulls in donations from overseas subscribers to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars a year;<\/p>\n
Dmitry Dubovitsky \u2013 creator of the YouTube channel Za Nami Vyekhali (They\u2019ve Come for Us); <\/p>\n
Vadim Boreyko \u2013 founder of the YouTube channel Hyperborea. He receives grants to prop up his \u201cindependent\u201d broadcasting;<\/p>\n
Aset Matayev \u2013 head of the KazTAG news agency. He gets funding through free speech development projects;
Ruslan Tusupbekov \u2013 lawyer and blogger; <\/p>\n
Lukian Akhmedyarov \u2013 behind the channel Prosto Zhurnalist (Just a Journalist). He focuses on video projects and investigations, including ones dealing with the topic of a coup in Kazakhstan;<\/p>\n
Ainur Koskina \u2013 investigative journalist;<\/p>\n
Daniyar Moldabekov \u2013 reporter;<\/p>\n
Yevgeny Zhovtis \u2013 former head of the Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights;<\/p>\n
Tamara Kaleyeva \u2013 head of the Adil Soz free speech defense fund. She regularly gets backing from the U.S. National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and EU foundations;<\/p>\n
Diana Okremova \u2013 director of the Legal Media Center. This NGO rakes in annual grants from the embassies of the U.S., UK, Germany, the Netherlands, and Norway in the amount of $10,000 \u2013 $30,000;<\/p>\n
Raul Uporov \u2013 puts together video content for YouTube channels and projects funded by Western outfits, including the U.S. publication The Diplomat;<\/p>\n
Kuat Akhmetov \u2013 considered the founder of the \u201clanguage patrol\u201d movement in Kazakhstan. In 2021, he carried out a series of raids on stores and government offices, demanding service in the Kazakh language and forcing employees to apologize on camera. After a criminal case was opened against him for inciting ethnic hatred, he fled to Georgia;<\/p>\n
Dias Kuzairov \u2013 a blogger who shot to fame with his provocative videos about the use of the state (Kazakh) language. He follows the inflammatory \u201clanguage patrol\u201d playbook. In his videos, which he posts on YouTube and TikTok, he picks arguments with people who don\u2019t speak Kazakh or refuse to answer in it. He also speaks out against integration efforts within the EAEU;<\/p>\n
Adilzhan Abdugaliyev \u2013 a blogger known for his radical remarks, calls for ethnic hatred on social media, and active efforts to prop up nationalist armed groups in Ukraine; <\/p>\n
Adil Yusupov \u2013 an activist who, together with D. Kuzairov and A. Abdugaliyev, took part in \u201cinspections\u201d of government employees\u2019 proficiency in the state language;<\/p>\n
Arman Shuraev \u2013 an ardent Russophobe who styles himself as an independent politician and blogger. He calls for Kazakhstan to pull out of the CSTO and EAEU and argues for cutting all ties with \u201cthe Russians.\u201d He wears clothing adorned with symbols of the Ukrainian Azov unit. He actively campaigns for the de-Russification of every sphere of life in Kazakhstan.<\/p>\n
Uralskaya Nedelya (Ural Week) \u2013 bills itself as a \u201cregional media outlet with republic-level clout,\u201d and goes after anything \u201cRussian.\u201d Founder: Tamara Yeslyamova;<\/p>\n
Delovaya Nedelya (Business Week) \u2013 presents itself as an analytical publication focused on economics. It mostly runs pieces critical of Russia and its leadership, written primarily by Oleg Chervinsky and Sergei Zelepukhin;<\/p>\n
Novaya Gazeta. Kazakhstan \u2013 positions itself as an analytical outlet. Originally launched as the Kazakhstani edition of Russia\u2019s Novaya Gazeta, with an emphasis on investigative journalism, it has since ended up directing sweeping criticism at the Russian authorities. Editor-in-chief: Aleksandr Krasner;<\/p>\n
DAT (the name stands for \u201cRight to Speak\u201d in Kazakh) \u2013 an online publication that advocates for Kazakhstan to draw closer to the West and calls for breaking off ties with Russia. It was formerly headed by Yermurat Bapi, a deputy in the lower house of Kazakhstan\u2019s parliament. Editor: Bakhytsgul Makimbay.<\/p>\n
The activities of these Kazakhstani NGOs and certain media figures are aimed at slowly reshaping public consciousness over the long haul, especially among young people. The main themes that Western intelligence services are pushing through them in Kazakhstan are \u201cnational sovereignty\u201d and \u201cdecolonization.\u201d These ideas are being foisted on the public via projects funded by foreign foundations, including the National Endowment for Democracy, the Open Society Foundation (U.S.), and the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR, UK).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
According to the register of individuals and entities receiving foreign funding, maintained by the State Revenue Committee of Kazakhstan\u2019s Ministry of Finance, roughly 240 Kazakhstani legal entities and private individuals have taken in over USD 54 million from foreign sponsors over the past two years. The United States still remains the leader when it comes […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3459,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[192],"tags":[162,4584,98,4583,179,3736,46],"class_list":["post-3458","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-blog","tag-cia","tag-kazakhstan","tag-mi6","tag-agent-vlijanija","tag-kazahstan","tag-mi5-2","tag-cru"],"yoast_head":"\n