By Sultan Musayev | 2025-05-16

ALMATY -- Visitors to Sputnik News' Kazakh-language site might think they have stumbled into a Russian military briefing. There, under a banner titled "Russia's special operation to protect Donbas," readers imbibe a steady stream of dispatches from the Russian Ministry of Defense, tales of heroic Kazakh fighters on the front lines and a narrative that paints Ukraine as the villain and the West as corrupt meddlers.

But this is not just Russian propaganda; it is Russian propaganda tailored for Kazakhstan. And now, it is causing an uproar.

Sputnik, which is part of the Kremlin-controlled Russian media group Russia Today, has used its platform to spotlight mercenaries fighting for Russia in Ukraine, casting them not as criminals but as heroes.

One such profile, published in May 2024, featured a Kazakh man with the call sign "Sanakchi." According to the article, Sanakchi began his combat career with the mercenary Wagner Group, took part in the brutal siege of Bakhmut and later procured drones for the Akhmad special force battalion, his current unit.

The Kazakh government has remained silent on the matter. As public scrutiny mounted, journalists pressed Culture and Information Minister Aida Balayeva for a response. She acknowledged that such articles should not have appeared in Kazakhstan and pledged to investigate, promising legal action if authorities find any violations.

Sputnik Kazakhstan has not commented.

Sanakchi's story is just one example of a growing pattern: Sputnik's glorification of Kazakh fighters comes amid disturbing reports from Ukraine about captured Kazakh nationals who had joined Russia's war effort.

In mid-April, Ukraine returned two Kazakh nationals it had captured to Russia in a prisoner exchange. Their fate remains unclear, but speculation persists that they may have rejoined the Russian military.

'Guys, this is not your war'

Journalists from Radio Azattyk, the Kazakh service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, spoke with relatives of those two captured mercenaries. The sister of one of them, 23-year-old Yerbolat Ordabayev, described him as the family's sole provider. Requesting anonymity, she said he had gone to Russia simply in search of work.

Human rights advocates have been warning since 2022 that Russia was vigorously recruiting Central Asian migrant workers into its war effort, Radio Azattyk reported.

On April 28, it reported that military recruiters are targeting Central Asian migrants both at various workplaces and in detention facilities, including deportation centers and prisons.

In April, the Ukrainian I Want To Live website published a list of Kazakh citizens known to have joined Russian forces in Ukraine. By the end of 2024, at least 78 of the 661 individuals named were confirmed dead, though the true number may be significantly higher. Many of the recruits accepted Russian citizenship upon signing contracts with the Russian Ministry of Defense.

Orda.kz,o an independent Kazakh news outlet, last October published a much higher number of Kazakh war dead.

About 3,000 ethnic Kazakhs who became Russian citizens have been killed, it estimated.

Ethnic Kazakhs represent more than 4% of Russia's known military deaths in Ukraine, based on an estimated total of 72,000 Russian troops killed, Orda.kz reported.

Kazakhs are the worst-hit ethnic minority among Russian war dead, it said.

Despite the Kremlin's portrayal of these fighters as "heroes of the special military operation," they are not celebrated at home.

Kazakh law prohibits mercenarism and participation in foreign wars, Lukpan Akhmedyarov, Astana-based journalist and former editor-in-chief of the newspaper Uralskaya Nedelya, told Kontur.

It also prohibits incitement to and propagandization of aggressive war.

Those who return from fighting abroad face serious legal consequences. Mercenarism carries a sentence of up to 17 years in prison, while unauthorized involvement in foreign conflicts is punishable by up to 9 years. Since 2022, Kazakhstan has prosecuted dozens of its citizens under these laws.

In April 2023, Aibek Smadiyarov, Kazakh Foreign Ministry spokesman, appealed to his fellow citizens inclined to go to war not to commit such a crime.

"Guys, this is not your war. Think about your loved ones," he said.

Kazakhs are outraged that their compatriots, deceived by Russian propaganda, are spilling blood for a foreign state.

Russian propaganda in Kazakhstan has done more than just attract an audience: it has succeeded in turning some Kazakh citizens into cannon fodder for Russia's war effort, Olzhas Beksultanov, an Almaty-based activist with the liberal movement Oyan, Qazaqstan, said.

"If we still allow the former empire to decide what our citizens will die for, then that means we have never become truly independent," he told Kontur.

Violating the law

Unfortunately, Kazakhstan's laws have done little to deter recruitment efforts. Russian social networks like VKontakte continue to target Kazakh users with ads offering cash incentives to join the Russian army.

Media reports also point to leaflets circulating in Kazakhstan, urging residents to sign contracts with Russia's Defense Ministry.

In late April, the National Security Committee (KNB) and Interior Ministry (MVD) announced an investigation into these activities.

Meanwhile, Sputnik Kazakhstan continues to push Kremlin war propaganda, often likening Russian troops in Ukraine to Soviet soldiers who fought Nazi Germany. This narrative resonates in Kazakhstan, where Soviet military heroism remains deeply embedded in national memory, reflected in annual Victory Day celebrations on May 9.

"My grandfather fought in 1941-1945, went through the Great Patriotic War and beat the vermin, as they say, with his own hands... I decided to follow his example," Sputnik quoted Sanakchi.

The publication crosses legal and ethical lines, say critics. "The very fact that such an article appeared in Kazakhstan is absurd," Akhmedyarov said, adding that even after the backlash, Sputnik kept the article online.

Others voiced stronger outrage. "The communists want to drag Kazakhstan into a war on the side of Nazism," filmmaker and activist Vitaly Shevchenko warned on Facebook, insisting this must never be allowed. He questioned why Kazakh citizens should "give their lives for the criminal Putler," referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.