DISINFO: Central Asian countries are quickly following the Ukrainian, fascist and neo-Nazi path
SUMMARY
Kazakhstan and other Central Asian countries are following the path of the Baltic states and Ukraine. In Kazakhstan, streets are named after and monuments are erected in honour of Nazi collaborators. Soviet-times repressions and Holodomor are becoming the foundation of a new state ideology in Kazakhstan. This ideology can only be pro-Nazi and aimed at the complete de-communisation and de-Russification. “Language patrolling units” are persecuting Russians and Russian-speaking people in Kazakhstan and are becoming the reality in other Central Asian countries. Therefore many direct analogies with Ukraine are observed – the “Ukrainisation” of Kazakhstan is taking place even without “maidans”.
Western special services, western NGOs, Ukrainian, Kazakh, and Kyrgyz nationalists, pro-western oligarchs and loyal high-ranking officials as well as officers of Central Asian countries’ special services interested in control over nationalistic and neo-Nazi groups, are collaborating with each other. Similar to what happened in Ukraine, when pro-western oligarchic groupings, assisted with a mass neo-Nazi movement, took power from Yanukovych, US and UK special services may inflame Central Asia using local nationalists, pan-Turkists, and neo-Nazis. Hence, it is indispensable to fight Ukrainisation in the form of spreading neo-Nazism and fascism.
RESPONSE
Recurrent pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about Nazi Ukraine, which is juxtaposed with the alleged “Nazification” of Central Asian countries. The latter claim is promoted with the use of disinformation about honouring Nazi collaborators and the persecution of the Russian-speaking population by “language patrolling units”. The article presents a big conspiracy speaking about the coordinated actions of Western governments and a variety of local actors in the Central Asian countries in their pursuit of anti-Russian, neo-Nazi activities. In this regard, the article also promotes recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives about the belligerent West trying to encircle Russia, to separate post-Soviet countries and isolate Russia.
The West builds its relations with Central Asian countries based on mutual consent, bilateral interests and benefits. The EU recognises the strategic importance of Central Asia, which links the huge Asian continent with Europe. As the EU is working to make relations with Central Asia stronger and deeper, the European Union’s engagement with Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan has developed significantly since the countries' independence following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Yet contrary to the allegations made in the article, the EU and US do not support neo-Nazi groups in Central Asian countries.
The “Nazi Ukraine” narrative is often presented in pro-Kremlin outlets as justification for the full-scale Russian military aggression against Ukraine, which started on 24 February 2022. This is part of a disinformation campaign aiming to deflect attention away from Russian actions and justify Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine.
The myth of Nazi-ruled Ukraine has been the cornerstone of Russian disinformation about the country since the very beginning of the 2013-14 Euromaidan protests, when it was used to discredit the pro-European popular uprising in Kyiv and, subsequently, the broader pro-Western shift in Ukraine's foreign policy. The accusation of Nazism and building a link to Nazi Germany is one of the favourite techniques of pro-Kremlin outlets. Read our past analysis Nazi east, Nazi west, Nazi over the cuckoo's nest.
Learn more about the reasons behind the Kremlin's obsession with framing Ukraine as a Nazi state in the EUvsDisinfo analysis titled "Why does Putin portray himself as the tamer of neo-Nazism".
See similar cases claiming that the West is working in the Central Asia to undermine the allied relations between CSTO countries, Western special services are involved in Kazakhstan protests, the Ukrainian special services coordinated protests in Kazakhstan, that Ukrainians are the new Nazis, their actions directed by Europe against Russia, and that Ukraine is ruled by a Nazi junta.