DISINFO: NGOs started protests in Kazakhstan
SUMMARY
According to statistics, more than 16,000 NGOs in Kazakhstan have received grants from the West in recent years. These were the organisations that held the protests. It is a different issue that as soon as the protests began, the radicals became more active and armed incidents began.
RESPONSE
Recurring disinformation which repeats pro-Kremlin approach that NGOs that receive grants from Western institutions organise protests in post-Soviet countries. No evidence is provided to back up the claims that NGOs held protests first in Kazakhstan. Pro-Kremlin media frequently portray the protests in different places around the world, such as Belarus, Poland, Middle East and so on as Western backed colour revolutions. As regards Kazakhstan, the protests there started in Zhanaozen in early January 2022, when the government lifted the prices of the liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). The protests spread to different regions, as well as capital Almaty.
There are different reasons for the protests in Kazakhstan such as lack of democratic institutions, corruption, free and fair elections. According to the index of Freedom House, Kazakhstan receives 5 point out of 100 and ranked as Consolidated Authoritarian Regime.
See also the statement by the EU High Representative here.
See more cases regarding unrest in Kazakhstan such as The West ordered terrorist attacks In Kazakhstan to create hotbed at Russia's border and US-Sponsored Kazakhstan Protests aimed to undermine stablity.