The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Kazakhstan on Friday for the first time officially reacted to the scandal around the so-called "language patrols".
The agency will check the videos distributed by supporters of the founder of the YouTube channel Til Maydani Kuat Akhmetov.
The nationalists have published a whole series of materials about their "language" raids in different cities of the country.
In the video, they insistently demand that the Russian-speaking employees of shops and cafes provide services in the Kazakh language, the presence of labels in the Kazakh language, etc., and in fact provoke a conflict.
In addition, Akhmetov posted videos with "apologies" of citizens, mostly elderly Russian women, who asked for forgiveness for certain actions that the activists did not like.
In particular, during a skirmish with activists on July 2, a resident of Aktau expressed the opinion that the city was once built by Russians, and on July 9 a video appeared where she, reading the text from a piece of paper, apologized for her words.
The videos caused a huge resonance and a storm of indignation in Russia.
A number of harsh statements were made in the media on this issue, and against the background of the scandal, "United Russia" a few days ago introduced a law proposing to ban the entry of "Russophobes" into the country.
On August 12, the Russian Interior Ministry banned Akhmetov himself from entering the country for 50 years.
Such precedents are unacceptable.
The Kazakh authorities also said they condemn Akhmetov's actions.
Dauren Abaev, the first deputy head of the Presidential Administration of Kazakhstan, called the scandalous raids "cave nationalism."
“Without a doubt, such precedents are unacceptable and outrageous.
The overwhelming majority of our citizens condemn such manifestations of cave nationalism, ”he said on August 12 on the air of the TV program“ Open Dialogue 2.0 ”.
The official promised that law enforcement agencies will give a "fair legal assessment" of the blogger's activities.
“Not because Russian deputies were outraged, but because in our country, in principle, such things are strictly suppressed, regardless of who was discriminated against and for what reason: Kazakhs, Russians or representatives of other ethnic groups,” said Dauren Abaev.
According to him, such things are happening all over the world, but this does not mean that they are encouraged by the state or are a trend.
Abaev urged not to judge the state of affairs in a country with a population of 19 million people by "inadequate actions of two or three people."
In addition, the official spoke about the status of the Russian language in Kazakhstan.
“In our country, almost 90% of the population speaks Russian.
I think this is one of the highest rates in the world, with the exception of Russia itself and, perhaps, Belarus.
In our country, more than 30% of schoolchildren study in Russian, while the share of Russians themselves in the structure of the population is now about 20%.
Doesn't this mean that the language is in demand? "
- said the representative of the presidential administration.
He believes that talking about the infringement of the Russian language in Kazakhstan is at least unfair, noting that now more than 23 thousand teachers of the Russian language and literature work in the country - more than in any other country in Central Asia.
Interrogation at the Ministry of Internal Affairs
However, the authorities' statements did not stop Akhmetov.
Over the past week, the blogger has continued to upload videos.
So, he published a video with the apology of the head of the department of control of medical and social examination of the Atyrau region Emilia Grechanik for the use of the Russian language.
The activists posted her photo and phone to the public.
On August 18, in another video, Kuat Akhmetov told subscribers that they began to exert serious pressure on him.
According to him, a case was opened against him under Art.
174 of the Criminal Code of Kazakhstan, which provides for liability for inciting ethnic hatred.
What part of this article is being investigated, he did not say.
But even according to the mildest, first part, he could face up to seven years in prison.
Akhmetov claimed that he was being interrogated all that day, and this was allegedly connected with the visit of Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin to Nur-Sultan.
On August 19, the blogger was again detained by the Alma-Ata police.
Akhmetov posted footage of the arrest on the Internet.
When communicating with law enforcement officers, he did not hesitate to use the Russian language.
About an hour later, he was released, having written out a fine of 145 thousand tenge (about 25 thousand rubles. -
RT
).
Akhmetov also said that he was given a kind of summons, the content of which he did not inform his subscribers.
But he published the details of his card, asking them to help pay the fine.
Kuat Akhmetov
© Screenshot from video: Youtube
"Guardian" of the law
Earlier, Akhmetov commented on his activities to RT.
According to him, he only demands to comply with the law.
“I don’t mention nationality in the video.
We brought two Kazakhs to administrative responsibility for failure to comply with the law on the languages of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
They filed a lawsuit against a supermarket owned by a Kazakh, and he pleaded guilty.
Imagine that you open a store in Russia, and it will not serve in Russian? "
- said Akhmetov.
Commenting on the videos with the apologies of Russian women, he noted that there are also Kazakhs' apologies on the channel.
“One woman insulted, told people:“ Go graze the sheep. ”
There is video evidence of this.
Then someone called the police, she apologized.
Another one kicked out non-Russian-speaking clients, she said, we supposedly built a city for you, but she exposes us, Kazakhs, as savages who did not know the written language.
But she doesn't even have citizenship - she came, opened a business, took out a loan, lives in excellent conditions and behaves like that.
So everything has its own background "...
In addition, he accused the Russians of arrogance.
“Your society is arrogant.
They come and treat Kazakhs with condescension.
I don’t know where people get such hatred?
Perhaps after the speeches of some of your politicians, ”the activist added.
At the same time, back in 2017, he was selling plastic windows on VKontakte.
Ads on his page are in Russian only.
But, as soon as Akhmetov was asked about this, he immediately hung up.
"They threaten and scare"
One of the entrepreneurs, whom Akhmetov hounded, told RT that he is still afraid of the return of "activists".
“Please don't mention my name, please.
I'm afraid they will take revenge.
I believe that this was a deliberate attack on us, although our language program is observed, all the requirements of the law are observed, and even many of our Kazakh employees were simply shocked after their visit.
Akhmetov himself is an ardent nationalist, we wrote about this in our complaints to the prosecutor's office and the KNB (National Security Committee. -
RT
).
He has connections with Ukrainian nationalists.
He considers himself a Kazakh-Bandera.
As for these apologies, they are coercive.
They threaten, scare - no one will voluntarily write it all down, ”said the interlocutor of RT.
The President of the Moscow Foundation "Kazakh Diaspora" Polat Jamalov believes that the current situation with the situation of Russians and the Russian language in Kazakhstan is greatly exaggerated.
“Everything that happens is so stupid that there is nothing to comment on. As for the real situation of the Russian language in Kazakhstan, in a number of regions of Russia it is worse than in Kazakhstan. God grant that in other countries it will be so with the Russian language. And the fact that there are such "intoxicated with independence" - well, there are enough fools everywhere. Apology raids are hooliganism that should be dealt with by local authorities. And I feel sorry for those people who succumbed to this hooliganism and portray some kind of apology on the video. There were some explanations that they allegedly wanted to receive some services in their native language. And why then put these unfortunate people on the net, who, out of fright, begin to mumble some kind of apology? " - he told RT.