Russia’s Invasion Of Ukraine Has Left Kazakhstan On Edge

In the space of only a few months, Kazakhstan has seen a major outburst of violent civil unrest within its own borders and then an invasion of Ukraine launched by its neighbor to the north, Russia. It is against this backdrop that the government has, despite a sharp projected drop in the rate of economic growth, decided to substantially increase its defense outlays. On April 7, Deputy Finance Minister Tatyana Savelyeva presented a three-year budget to the parliament that envisioned an additional 441 billion tenge (around $1 billion) in spending…