Russians In Kazakhstan
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There has been a substantial population of
Russians , native_name_lang = ru , image = , caption = , population = , popplace = 118 million Russians in the Russian Federation (2002 ''Winkler Prins'' estimate) , region1 = , pop1 ...
in
Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...
since the 19th century. Although their numbers have been reduced since the breakup of the
Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
, they remain prominent in Kazakh society today. Russians formed a plurality of the
Kazakh SSR ; kk, Қазақ Советтік Социалистік Республикасы) *1991: Republic of Kazakhstan (russian: Республика Казахстан; kk, Қазақстан Республикасы) , linking_name = the ...
's population for several decades.


Early colonisation

The first Rus' traders and soldiers began to appear on the northwestern edge of modern
Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...
territory in the early 16th century, when
Cossacks The Cossacks , es, cosaco , et, Kasakad, cazacii , fi, Kasakat, cazacii , french: cosaques , hu, kozákok, cazacii , it, cosacchi , orv, коза́ки, pl, Kozacy , pt, cossacos , ro, cazaci , russian: казаки́ or ...
established the forts that later became the cities of
Oral The word oral may refer to: Relating to the mouth * Relating to the mouth, the first portion of the alimentary canal that primarily receives food and liquid **Oral administration of medicines ** Oral examination (also known as an oral exam or or ...
(Ural'sk, est. 1520) and
Atyrau Atyrau ( kk, Атырау, ', ; russian: Атырау, ), known until 1991 as Guryev (russian: Гурьев, ), is a city in Kazakhstan and the capital of Atyrau Region. Atyrau is a transcontinental city, at the mouth of the Ural River on the Cas ...
(Gur'yev).
Ural Ural may refer to: *Ural (region), in Russia and Kazakhstan *Ural Mountains, in Russia and Kazakhstan *Ural (river), in Russia and Kazakhstan * Ual (tool), a mortar tool used by the Bodo people of India *Ural Federal District, in Russia *Ural econ ...
,
Siberian Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive region, geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a ...
and later
Orenburg Orenburg (russian: Оренбу́рг, ), formerly known as Chkalov (1938–1957), is the administrative center of Orenburg Oblast, Russia. It lies on the Ural River, southeast of Moscow. Orenburg is also very close to the Kazakhstan-Russia bor ...
Cossack Host A Cossack host ( uk, козацьке військо, translit=kozatske viisko; russian: каза́чье во́йско, ''kazachye voysko''), sometimes translated as Cossack army, was an administrative subdivision of Cossacks in the Russian Em ...
s gradually established themselves in parts of northern Kazakhstan. In 1710s and 1720s Siberian Cossacks founded
Oskemen Oskemen ( kk, Өскемен, translit=Öskemen ), or Ust-Kamenogorsk (russian: Усть-Каменого́рск), is the administrative center of East Kazakhstan Region of Kazakhstan. Population: Name The city has two official names. In th ...
(Ust-Kamennaya),
Semey Semey ( kk, Семей, Semei, سەمەي; cyrl, Семей ), until 2007 known as Semipalatinsk (russian: Семипала́тинск) and in 1917–1920 as Alash-kala ( kk, Алаш-қала, ''Alaş-qala''), is a city in eastern Kazakhst ...
(Semipalatinsk) and
Pavlodar Pavlodar ( ; ) is a city in northeastern Kazakhstan and the capital of Pavlodar Region. It is located 450 km northeast of the national capital Astana and 405 km southeast of the Russian city of Omsk along the Irtysh River. , the cit ...
(Fort Koryakovskiy) as border forts and trading posts. Russian imperial authorities followed and were able to seize Kazakh territory because the local
khanate A khaganate or khanate was a polity ruled by a khan, khagan, khatun, or khanum. That political territory was typically found on the Eurasian Steppe and could be equivalent in status to tribal chiefdom, principality, kingdom or empire. Mong ...
s were preoccupied by a war with
Kalmyks The Kalmyks ( Kalmyk: Хальмгуд, ''Xaľmgud'', Mongolian: Халимагууд, ''Halimaguud''; russian: Калмыки, translit=Kalmyki, archaically anglicised as ''Calmucks'') are a Mongolic ethnic group living mainly in Russia, w ...
(
Oirats Oirats ( mn, Ойрад, ''Oirad'', or , Oird; xal-RU, Өөрд; zh, 瓦剌; in the past, also Eleuths) are the westernmost group of the Mongols whose ancestral home is in the Altai region of Siberia, Xinjiang and western Mongolia. Histor ...
,
Dzungars The Dzungar people (also written as Zunghar; from the Mongolian words , meaning 'left hand') were the many Mongol Oirat tribes who formed and maintained the Dzungar Khanate in the 17th and 18th centuries. Historically they were one of major tr ...
). Kazakhs were increasingly caught in the middle between the Kalmyks and the Russians. In 1730 Abul Khayr, one of the khans of the Lesser Horde, sought Russian assistance against the stronger Kalmyks, and the Russians in exchange for help gained permanent control of the Lesser Horde as a result of his decision. The Russians conquered the Middle Horde by 1798, but the Great Horde managed to remain independent until the 1820s, when the expanding
Kokand Khanate The Khanate of Kokand ( fa, ; ''Khānneshin-e Khoqand'', chg, ''Khoqand Khānligi'') was a Central Asian polity in the Fergana Valley centred on the city of Kokand between 1709 and 1876. Its territory is today divided between Uzbekistan, Kyr ...
to the south forced the Great Horde khans to choose Russian protection, which seemed to them the lesser of two evils. In 1824, Siberian Cossacks from
Omsk Omsk (; rus, Омск, p=omsk) is the administrative center and largest city of Omsk Oblast, Russia. It is situated in southwestern Siberia, and has a population of over 1.1 million. Omsk is the third largest city in Siberia after Novosibirsk ...
founded a fortress on the upper
Ishim River The Ishim (russian: Иши́м, Ishim; kk, Есіл, Esil) is a river running through Kazakhstan and Russia. It is long, and has a drainage basin of . Its average discharge is . It is a left tributary of the Irtysh. The Ishim is partly naviga ...
named Akmolinsk, which is known today as
Astana Astana, previously known as Akmolinsk, Tselinograd, Akmola, and most recently Nur-Sultan, is the capital city of Kazakhstan. The city lies on the banks of the Ishim (river), Ishim River in the north-central part of Kazakhstan, within the Akmo ...
, capital of Kazakhstan. In the same year they founded the fort of
Kokshetau Kokshetau (meaning ''Blueish Mountain'' in Kazakh, kz, Көкшетау, Kökşetau; ; rus, Кокшета́у, p=kokʂɛtaʊ) is a city in northern Kazakhstan and the capital of Akmola Region, which stretches along the southern shore of Lak ...
. In the 1850s, the construction of Russian forts began in southern Kazakhstan including
Fort Shevchenko Fort-Shevchenko ( kk, Форт-Шевченко) is a military-base town and administrative centre of Tupkaragan District in Mangystau Region of Kazakhstan on the eastern shore of Caspian Sea. Primary industries include fishing and the extracti ...
(Fort Alexandrovsky),
Kyzylorda Kyzylorda ( kk, Қызылорда, translit=Qyzylorda, ), formerly known as Kzyl-Orda (russian: Кзыл-Орда), Ak-Mechet (Ак-Мечеть), Perovsk (Перовск), and Fort-Perovsky (Форт-Перовский), is a city in south-cen ...
(Fort Petrovsky),
Kazaly Kazaly (, ''Qazaly''), also known as Kazalinsk () is a town in Kazaly District of Kyzylorda Region in Kazakhstan, located on the right bank of the Syr Darya River. Population: History During the Russian conquest of Central Asia, Kazalinsk was f ...
(Kazalinsk) and
Almaty Almaty (; kk, Алматы; ), formerly known as Alma-Ata ( kk, Алма-Ата), is the List of most populous cities in Kazakhstan, largest city in Kazakhstan, with a population of about 2 million. It was the capital of Kazakhstan from 1929 to ...
(Verniy). In 1863, the
Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...
created two administrative districts, the Governor-Generalships in
Central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...
of
Russian Turkestan Russian Turkestan (russian: Русский Туркестан, Russkiy Turkestan) was the western part of Turkestan within the Russian Empire’s Central Asian territories, and was administered as a Krai or Governor-Generalship. It comprised the ...
(the oasis region to the south of the Kazakh steppes and
Zhetysu Zhetysu, or Jeti-Suu ( kk, , Жетісу, pronounced ; ky, ''Jeti-Suu'', (), meaning "seven rivers"; also transcribed ''Zhetisu'', ''Jetisuw'', ''Jetysu'', ''Jeti-su'', ''Jity-su'', ''Жетысу'',, National Geospatial-Intelligence Age ...
(Semirechye) region) and that of the
Steppe In physical geography, a steppe () is an ecoregion characterized by grassland plains without trees apart from those near rivers and lakes. Steppe biomes may include: * the montane grasslands and shrublands biome * the temperate grasslands, ...
(modern eastern and northern Kazakhstan including the lands of the
Siberian Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive region, geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a ...
and Semiryechensk Cossask Hosts) with their capital at
Omsk Omsk (; rus, Омск, p=omsk) is the administrative center and largest city of Omsk Oblast, Russia. It is situated in southwestern Siberia, and has a population of over 1.1 million. Omsk is the third largest city in Siberia after Novosibirsk ...
. The north-west of Kazakhstan was at the time part of
Orenburg Governorate Orenburg Governorate (russian: Оренбургская губерния) was an administrative division (a '' guberniya'') of the Russian Empire with the center in the city of Orenburg, Ufa (1802-1865). The governorate was created in 1744 from ...
. First Governor-General Gerasim Kolpakovsky of the Steppe region (and all his future successors) was also ataman of Siberian Cossacks symbolizing the important role the Cossacks played in the Russian colonization of Kazakh territories. In 1869 Russian settlers founded the town of
Aktobe Aktobe ( kz, Ақтөбе, Aqtöbe; russian: Актобе, Aktobe) is a city on the Ilek River in Kazakhstan. It is the administrative center of Aktobe Region. In 2020, it had a population of 500,757 people. Aktobe is located in the west of K ...
(Aktyubinsk), in 1879
Kostanay Kostanay ( kz, Қостанай, Qostanai ) is a city located on the Tobol River in northern Kazakhstan. It was known as Nikolayevsk (russian: Николаевск) until 1895 and then as Kustanay (russian: Кустанай) until 1997. Kostanay ...
. In the 1860s General
Mikhail Chernyayev Mikhail Grigoryevich Chernyaev (Russian: Михаил Григорьевич Черняев) (3 November / 22 October 1828, Bender, Bessarabia Governorate – 16 August 1898) was a Russian major general, who, together with Konstantin Kaufman an ...
conquered the only towns that existed in Kazakhstan before the Russian conquest
Hazrat-e Turkestan Turkistan ( kz, Түркістан, ''Türkıstan'') is a city and the administrative center of Turkistan Region of Kazakhstan, near the Syr Darya river. It is situated north-west of Shymkent on the Trans-Aral Railway between Kyzylorda to t ...
,
Taraz Taraz ( kz, Тараз, تاراز, translit=Taraz ; known to Europeans as Talas) is a city and the administrative center of Jambyl Region in Kazakhstan, located on the Talas (river), Talas (Taraz) River in the south of the country near the borde ...
and
Shymkent Shymkent (; Шымкент, Şymkent), known until 1993 as Chimkent ( uz, Çımkent, چىمكېنت; Yañalif: Çimkent ()); russian: Чимкент, translit=Chimkent (), is a city in Kazakhstan. It is near the border with Uzbekistan. It is one ...
that belonged to the
Khanate of Kokand The Khanate of Kokand ( fa, ; ''Khānneshin-e Khoqand'', chg, ''Khoqand Khānligi'') was a Central Asian polity in the Fergana Valley centred on the city of Kokand between 1709 and 1876. Its territory is today divided between Uzbekistan, Ky ...
. Christianity spread in the predominantly Muslim region together with Russian colonists: the
Russian Orthodox Church , native_name_lang = ru , image = Moscow July 2011-7a.jpg , imagewidth = , alt = , caption = Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, Russia , abbreviation = ROC , type ...
established a Central Asian bishopric in 1871 with its
bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...
first residing in Verniy and after 1916 in
Tashkent Tashkent (, uz, Toshkent, Тошкент/, ) (from russian: Ташкент), or Toshkent (; ), also historically known as Chach is the capital and largest city of Uzbekistan. It is the most populous city in Central Asia, with a population of ...
. In the 1890s, many non-Cossack Russian settlers migrated into the fertile lands of northern and eastern Kazakhstan. In 1906 the
Trans-Aral Railway The broad gauge Trans-Aral Railway (also known as the Tashkent Railway) was built in 1906 connecting Kinel and Tashkent, then both in the Russian Empire. For the first part of the 20th century it was the only railway connection between European ...
between
Orenburg Orenburg (russian: Оренбу́рг, ), formerly known as Chkalov (1938–1957), is the administrative center of Orenburg Oblast, Russia. It lies on the Ural River, southeast of Moscow. Orenburg is also very close to the Kazakhstan-Russia bor ...
and
Tashkent Tashkent (, uz, Toshkent, Тошкент/, ) (from russian: Ташкент), or Toshkent (; ), also historically known as Chach is the capital and largest city of Uzbekistan. It is the most populous city in Central Asia, with a population of ...
was completed, further facilitating Russian and Ukrainian migration to Central Asia. Between 1906 and 1912, more than half a million Ukrainian and Russian farms were started in Kazakhstan as part of the reforms of the Russian minister of the interior Petr Stolypin. By 1917 there were close to a million slavs in Kazakhstan, about 30% of the total population. Analysis of data on migrants who arrived during the Stolypin agrarian reform (1906-1912) on the territory of Kazakhstan shows that 83.1% of the settlers were from Ukraine, the rest came from the southern regions of Russia (16.8%).


Soviet period

Russians of Kazakhstan together with other ethnic groups of the region suffered heavily during the
Russian Civil War , date = October Revolution, 7 November 1917 – Yakut revolt, 16 June 1923{{Efn, The main phase ended on 25 October 1922. Revolt against the Bolsheviks continued Basmachi movement, in Central Asia and Tungus Republic, the Far East th ...
and
Collectivisation in the USSR The Soviet Union introduced the collectivization (russian: Коллективизация) of its agricultural sector between 1928 and 1940 during the ascension of Joseph Stalin. It began during and was part of the first five-year plan. Th ...
and endured repeated famines and unrest. In 1918-1931
Basmachi Revolt The Basmachi movement (russian: Басмачество, ''Basmachestvo'', derived from Uzbek: "Basmachi" meaning "bandits") was an uprising against Russian Imperial and Soviet rule by the Muslim peoples of Central Asia. The movement's roots l ...
affected areas of southern
Kazakh SSR ; kk, Қазақ Советтік Социалистік Республикасы) *1991: Republic of Kazakhstan (russian: Республика Казахстан; kk, Қазақстан Республикасы) , linking_name = the ...
often taking a form of an ethnic conflict between Russian and Ukrainian farmers and native
Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
nomads A nomad is a member of a community without fixed habitation who regularly moves to and from the same areas. Such groups include hunter-gatherers, pastoral nomads (owning livestock), tinkers and trader nomads. In the twentieth century, the po ...
. Thousands of Russian settlers are thought to have been killed by the Kazakhs in the violence and this was followed by equally bloody reprisals against the nomadic population by the
Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, after ...
. The Kazakh Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was established as part of the RSFSR - the process was not straightforward and included disputes over territories. On 26 August 1920, the Soviet government issued a decree signed by Mikhail Kalinin and Vladimir Lenin "On the formation of the Autonomous Kyrgyz (Kazakh) Soviet Socialist Republic" in the RSFSR. The city of Orenburg, with its majorly Kazakh population, became the capital of the Kazakh Autonomous Republic. When it came to the formation of borders, there were many opponents to the inclusion of Akmola, Semipalatinsk and Ural regions in the KazASSR. Others, on the contrary, demanded to include the territories of the Omsk region, Barnaul district, Altai region of Russia and some parts of Central Asia into the structure of Kazakhstan. The expediency of the inclusion of Kustanay region into Kazakhstan was comprehensively proved in a note by Akhmet Baitursynov and Mukhamedjan Seralin. It was necessary to prove the necessity of inclusion of Akmola and Semipalatinsk regions. As strangely as it was, these territories, native to Kazakhs, belonged to Western Siberia. Thus, in 1920, the member of the Revcom Alikhan Yermekov in Moscow was at the reception of the leader of the state Vladimir Lenin. In the Kremlin, he made an important report "On the situation of the Kirghiz region in general, and on the issue of borders in particular". Thanks to this document, the Kazakh authorities managed to defend Akmola, Semipalatinsk and Atyrau regions. The republic included a 10-verst long strip along the Urals and Irtysh Rivers, where the Cossacks settled during the expansion of Tsarist Russia. Many European Soviet citizens and much of Russia's industry were relocated to Kazakhstan during
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, when Nazi armies threatened to capture all the European industrial centers of the
Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
. These migrants founded mining towns which quickly grew to become major industrial centers such as
Karaganda Karaganda or Qaraghandy ( kk, Қарағанды/Qarağandy, ; russian: Караганда, ) is the capital of Karaganda Region in the Republic of Kazakhstan. It is the List of most populous cities in Kazakhstan, fourth most populous city in Kaza ...
(1934),
Zhezkazgan Jezkazgan, or Zhezkazgan ( kk, Жезқазған, translit=Jezqazğan ), formerly known as Dzhezkazgan (russian: Джезказган) until 1992, is a city and the administrative centre of Ulytau Region, Kazakhstan, on a reservoir of the Kar ...
(1938),
Temirtau Temirtau ( kz, Теміртау, translit=Temırtau; russian: Темиртау) is a city in the Karaganda Region of Kazakhstan. The population was 170,481 in the 1999 census, rising to 210,590 in 2015. The city is located on the Nura River (the ...
(1945) and
Ekibastuz Ekibastuz ( kk, Екібастұз, translit=Ekıbastūz, , ەكئباستۇز; russian: Экибастуз) is a city in Pavlodar Region, northeastern Kazakhstan. The population was Ekibastuz is served by Ekibastuz Airport. History The history ...
(1948). In 1955, the town of Baikonur was built to support the
Baikonur Cosmodrome The Baikonur Cosmodrome ( kk, Байқоңыр ғарыш айлағы, translit=Baiqoñyr ğaryş ailağy, ; russian: Космодром Байконур, translit=Kosmodrom Baykonur, ) is a spaceport in an area of southern Kazakhstan leased to R ...
to this day its administered by
Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
. Many more Russians arrived in the years 1953–1965, during the so-called Virgin Lands Campaign of Soviet general secretary
Nikita Khrushchev Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and chairman of the country's Council of Ministers from 1958 to 1964. During his rule, Khrushchev s ...
. Still more settlers came in the late 1960s and 70s, when the government paid bonuses to workers participating in a program to relocate Soviet industry close to the extensive coal, gas, and oil deposits of Central Asia. By 1979 ethnic Russians in Kazakhstan numbered about 5,500,000, almost 40% of the total population. In December 1986, Soviet general secretary
Mikhail Gorbachev Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (2 March 1931 – 30 August 2022) was a Soviet politician who served as the 8th and final leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to dissolution of the Soviet Union, the country's dissolution in 1991. He served a ...
appointed
Gennady Kolbin Gennady Vasilyevich Kolbin (; 7 May 1927 – 15 January 1998) was the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Kazakh SSR from 16 December 1986 to 22 June 1989. Early life Kolbin was born in 1927 in Nizhny Tagil. Fr ...
, with no ties to the republic, as the first secretary of the Central Committee of
Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A ...
of Kazakh SSR, breaking with a tradition of ethnic Kazakh dominance in the local administration. Following several incidents of ethnic unrest in 1989, Kolbin was replaced by
Nursultan Nazarbayev Nursultan Abishuly Nazarbayev ( kk, Нұрсұлтан Әбішұлы Назарбаев, Nūrsūltan Äbişūlı Nazarbaev, ; born 6 July 1940) is a Kazakh politician and military officer who served as the first President of Kazakhstan, in off ...
who following the
dissolution of the Soviet Union The dissolution of the Soviet Union, also negatively connoted as rus, Разва́л Сове́тского Сою́за, r=Razvál Sovétskogo Soyúza, ''Ruining of the Soviet Union''. was the process of internal disintegration within the Sov ...
became the president of independent Kazakhstan. According to the 1989 Soviet census, 66% of Russians living in Kazakhstan had been born there, the highest proportion of all Soviet republics besides the
Russian SFSR The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR or RSFSR ( rus, Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика, Rossíyskaya Sovétskaya Federatívnaya Soci ...
. 37% of the Russians who were born elsewhere had lived in the Kazakh SSR for at least 20 years.


Post-Soviet period

Although Nazarbayev is widely credited with peaceful preservation of the delicate inter-ethnic balance in Kazakhstan, hundreds of thousands of Russians left Kazakhstan in the 1990s due to the perceived lack of economic opportunities. A number of factors contributed to this situation. Following independence from the Soviet Union, the Kazakh government adopted a policy of developing the state language that sought to affirm the ethnically Kazakh nature of the country and promote Kazakh language and culture. One aspect of this policy was the government's decision to define Kazakhstan as the national state of the ethnically Kazakh people in the country's first constitution in 1993 and again in its second constitution in 1995. In 1994 Kazakhstan held its first parliamentary elections since independence. In these elections, Kazakh candidates won a disproportionate number of seats compared to Russian candidates relative to the demographic makeup of the country at the time. Observers attributed the over-representation of Kazakh politicians to electoral tampering carried out by the government, primarily through
gerrymandering In representative democracies, gerrymandering (, originally ) is the political manipulation of electoral district boundaries with the intent to create undue advantage for a party, group, or socioeconomic class within the constituency. The m ...
. Many Russians interpreted this as an attempt to promote Kazakh domination of the state at the expense of Russian influence. A major factor that contributed to the alienation of Russians and the increase of inter-ethnic tensions in post-Soviet Kazakhstan was the government's language policy. Following independence, the government adopted Kazakh as the country's official language. Russian was designated as the language of interethnic communication but not given official status. Over the course of the 1990s, the government mandated the instruction of Kazakh in schools and introduced Kazakh language fluency requirements for all public sector jobs. Many Russians objected to these measures and advocated for official bilingualism, which was denied. The government's language policy struck many Russians as inequitable, in part because at the time of independence Russian was the de facto language of communication in government and business. Most Kazakhs were already fluent in Russian, while very few Russians were fluent in Kazakh. This policy had the effect of excluding the vast majority of Russian-speakers from some of the most coveted professional occupations. These various developments contributed to an increasing sense of marginalization and exclusion among Russians in Kazakhstan. Many Russians felt that there were limited opportunities for them and their children in the country, as a result of the government's new linguistic and educational policies. These and other grievances were major causes of the massive emigration of Russians from Kazakhstan that took place in the 1990s. By 1999, the number of Russians in Kazakhstan dropped to 4,479,618 people, roughly 30% of Kazakhstan's population. Emigration from Kazakhstan reached its peak in 1994, when 344,112 people emigrated from Kazakhstan to Russia. Since then, it has consistently decreased, perhaps because those most eager to leave or with the resources to leave have already done so. At the beginning of his presidency in 2000,
Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...
met with leaders of the Russian community in Kazakhstan who explained to him the situation they faced in the country. This meeting resulted in a proposal of a massive departure of the remainder of Russians from Kazakhstan. It was suggested that these migrants would revitalize depopulated areas of central Russia and provide a counterweight to the demographic decline of Russians within the Russian Federation. However, support for the idea has since evaporated and the Russian government has not provided the resources necessary for massive repatriation. The majority of Russians who emigrated from Kazakhstan were Russians born in Russia who had moved to Kazakhstan later in life, primarily for professional reasons. Most of this group resided in urban areas and tended to be more highly educated. In contrast, Russians who were born in the country and whose families have lived in Kazakhstan for two to three generations were far less likely to emigrate. This group is concentrated in rural regions, especially in the northern part of the country. In the 1990s, this group made up two thirds of Kazakhstan's Russian population but only one third of the migrants who left the country.Alexandrov, Uneasy Alliance, 116 Russians are still an influential socio-political group in Kazakhstan, and they remain active in Kazakhstan's public, military, cultural and economic life. Also the Kazakh language is the state language, while Russian is now also officially used as an equal language to Kazakh in Kazakhstan's public institutions. Kazakhstan is also part of the
Eurasian Economic Union The Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU or EEU)EAEU is the acronym used on thorganisation's website However, many media outlets use the acronym EEU. is an economic union of some post-Soviet states located in Eurasia. The Treaty on the Eurasian Econo ...
with Russia.


Number and share


Censuses

Number and share of Russians according to the census over the years by
regions In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...
:


Prominent ethnic Russians from Kazakhstan

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Nik Antropov Nikolai Alexandrovich Antropov (russian: Николай Александрович Антропов; born February 18, 1980) is a Kazakhstani-Canadian former professional ice hockey centre who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the ...
*
Anatoli Boukreev Anatoli Nikolaevich Boukreev (russian: Анато́лий Никола́евич Букре́ев; January 16, 1958 – December 25, 1997) was a Soviet and Kazakhstani mountaineer who made ascents of 10 of the 14 eight-thousander peaks—those a ...
* Alexander Dutov * Gennady Golovkin (half-
Korean Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, ethnic group originating in the Korean Peninsula * Korean cuisine * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Chosŏn'gŭl **Korean dialects and the Jeju language ** ...
) *
Vassiliy Jirov Vassiliy Valeryevich Jirov (russian: Васи́лий Вале́рьевич Жи́ров; born 4 April 1974), sometimes known as Vasily Zhirov, is a Kazakhstani former professional boxer who competed from 1997 to 2009, and held the IBF cruise ...
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Vsevolod Ivanov Vsevolod Vyacheslavovich Ivanov (russian: Все́волод Вячесла́вович Ива́нов, ; , Lebyazhye, Semipalatinsk Oblast – 15 August 1963, Moscow) was a Soviet and Russian writer, dramatist, journalist and war correspondent. B ...
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Andrey Kashechkin Andrey Grigorievich Kashechkin (russian: Андрей Григорьевич Кашечкин, born 21 March 1980) is a Kazakhstani road racing cyclist, who last rode for the UCI ProTour team . Biography Kashechkin was born in Kyzyl-Orda, in the ...
* Andrei Kivilev * Nikolay Koksharov * Ruslana Korshunova *
Yuri Lonchakov Yury Valentinovich Lonchakov (russian: link=no, Юрий Валентинович Лончаков; born 4 March 1965) is a Russian former cosmonaut and a veteran of three space missions. He has spent 200 days in space and has conducted two space ...
*
Sergei Lukyanenko Sergei Vasilyevich Lukyanenko (russian: Серге́й Васи́льевич Лукья́ненко, ; born 11 April 1968) is a Russian science fiction and fantasy author, writing in Russian. His works often feature intense action-packed plots, ...
* Vladimir Muravyov *
Vladimir Zhirinovsky Vladimir Volfovich Zhirinovsky, ''né'' Eidelshtein (russian: link=false, Эйдельштейн) (25 April 1946 – 6 April 2022) was a Russian right-wing populist politician and the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) fr ...
*
Viktor Patsayev Viktor Ivanovich Patsayev (russian: Ви́ктор Ива́нович Паца́ев; 19 June 193329 June 1971) was a Soviet cosmonaut who flew on the Soyuz 11 mission and was part of the third space crew to die during a space flight. On boar ...
* Vitaliy Savin * Vladimir Smirnov *
Adolf Tolkachev Adolf Georgiyevich Tolkachev (russian: Адольф Георгиевич Толкачёв; 6 January 1927 in Aktyubinsk (now Aktobe), Kazakh ASSR, Soviet Union – 24 September 1986) was a Soviet electronics engineer who provided key documents to ...
* Alexander Volkov *
Oleg Yankovsky Oleg Ivanovich Yankovsky (russian: Оле́г Ива́нович Янко́вский; 23 February 1944 – 20 May 2009) was a Soviet Union, Soviet and Russia, Russian actor who excelled in psychologically sophisticated roles of modern intellectu ...
* Alexander Vinokourov *
Ilya Ilyin Ilya Aleksandrovich Ilyin (russian: Илья Александрович Ильин; born 24 May 1988) is a retired Kazakhstani weightlifter who won four world championships. On 12 December, 2015 at the President's Cup in Grozny, Russia, Ilyin ...
*
Igor Sysoev Igor Vladimirovich Sysoev () is a Russian software engineer. In October 2004 he released the Nginx Web server, reverse proxy, load balancer and HTTP cache software and founded Nginx, Inc. Sysoev was born in 1970 and grew up in Almaty, Kazak ...
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Olga Rypakova Olga Rypakova (russian: Ольга Сергеевна Рыпакова; née Alekseyeva; 30 November 1984) is a Kazakhstani track and field athlete. Originally a heptathlete, she switched to focus on the long jump and began to compete in the trip ...
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Olga Shishigina Olga Vasilyevna Shishigina (russian: link=no, Ольга Васильевна Шишигина; born 23 December 1968 in Almaty) is a retired Kazakhstani track and field athlete who mainly competed in the 100 metres hurdles. Honoured Master of S ...
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Dmitriy Balandin Dmitriy Igorevich Balandin ( kz, Дмитрий Игоревич Баландин; born 4 April 1995) is a retired Kazakh breaststroke swimmer. He won the 200 m breaststroke at the 2016 Summer Olympics, as well as the 50, 100 and 200 m breasts ...


See also

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Demographics of Kazakhstan The demographics of Kazakhstan enumerate the demographic features of the population of Kazakhstan, including population growth, population density, ethnicity, education level, health, economic status, religious affiliations, and other aspects ...
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Ethnic Russians in post-Soviet states After the dissolution of the Soviet Union (USSR) in December 1991, about 25 million ethnic Russians in post-Soviet states found themselves living outside of Russia. All former Soviet citizens had a time window within which they could transfer the ...
*
Ukrainians in Kazakhstan Ukrainian Kazakhstanis are an ethnic minority in Kazakhstan that according to the 1989 census numbered 896,000 people, or 5.4% of the population."The Ukrainians: Engaging the 'Eastern Diaspora'". By Andrew Wilson. (1999). In Charles King, Neil Me ...
* Kazakhs in Russia


References


Russians left behind in Central Asia
by Robert Greenall,
BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadca ...
, 23 November 2005.
Russian 'separatists' highlight ethnic tensions
by Sergei Blagov, Asia Times, 16 June 2000.
Kazakh-Russian relations
by Erlan Aben Institute for Central Asian and Caucasian Studies, September 2000. {{refend Ethnic groups in Kazakhstan European diaspora in Kazakhstan Kazakhstani people of Russian descent, * Russian diaspora by country, Kazakhstan Russian diaspora in Asia, Kazakhstan Kazakhstan–Russia relations