Russians in Kazakhstan
Encyclopedia
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, they remain prominent in Kazakh society today.
Early colonization
The first RussianRussians
The Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....
traders and soldiers began to appear on the northwestern edge of modern Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Ranked as the ninth largest country in the world, it is also the world's largest landlocked country; its territory of is greater than Western Europe...
territory in the early 16th century, when Cossacks established the forts that later became the cities of Oral
Oral, Kazakhstan
Oral , Uralsk in Russian, formerly known as Yaitsk , is a city in northwestern Kazakhstan, at the confluence of the Ural and Chogan Rivers close to the Russian border. As it is located on the western side of the Ural river, it is considered geographically in Europe. It has a population of 350,000...
(Ural'sk, est. 1520) and Atyrau
Atyrau
Atyrau , known as Guryev until 1991, is a city in Kazakhstan, and the capital of Atyrau Province. It is located at the mouth of the Ural River, 2700 kilometers west of Almaty and 350 kilometers east of the Russian city of Astrakhan. Other transliterations include Aterau, Atirau, Atyraw, Atyraou,...
(Gur'yev). Ural , Siberian
Siberian Cossacks
Siberian Cossacks were Cossacks who settled in the Siberian region of Russia from the end of the 16th century, following the Yermak Timofeyevich's conquest of Siberia. In early Siberia practically the whole Russian population, especially the serving-men were called Cossacks, but only in the loose...
and later Orenburg
Orenburg Cossacks
The Orenburg Cossack Host , a part of the Cossack population in pre-revolutionary Russia, located in the Orenburg province ....
Cossack Host
Cossack host
A Cossack host or Cossack viysko was an administrative subdivision of Cossacks in Imperial Russia...
s gradually established themselves in parts of northern Kazakhstan. In 1710s and 1720s Siberian Cossacks founded Oskemen
Oskemen
Oskemen and Ust-Kamennaya , is the capital of the East Kazakhstan Province. It is served by the Ust-Kamenogorsk Airport.-History:...
(Ust-Kamennaya), Semey
Semey
Semey , formerly known as Semipalatinsk and Alash-kala , is a city in Kazakhstan, in the northeastern province of East Kazakhstan, near the border with Siberia, around north of Almaty, and southeast of the Russian city of Omsk, along the Irtysh River.-History:The first settlement was in 1718,...
(Semipalatinsk) and Pavlodar
Pavlodar
Pavlodar is a city in northeastern Kazakhstan and the capital of Pavlodar Province. It is located 350 km northeast of the national capital Astana, and 400 km southeast of the Russian city of Omsk along the Irtysh River. , the city has a population of 331710...
(Fort Koryakovskiy) as border forts and trading posts. Russian imperial authorities followed and were able to seize Kazakh territory because the local khanate
Khanate
Khanate, or Chanat, is a Turco-Mongol-originated word used to describe a political entity ruled by a Khan. In modern Turkish, the word used is kağanlık, and in modern Azeri of the republic of Azerbaijan, xanlıq. In Mongolian the word khanlig is used, as in "Khereidiin Khanlig" meaning the Khanate...
s were preoccupied by a war with Kalmyks (Oirats
Oirats
Oirats are the westernmost group of the Mongols who unified several tribes origin whose ancestral home is in the Altai region of western Mongolia. Although the Oirats originated in the eastern parts of Central Asia, the most prominent group today is located in the Republic of Kalmykia, a federal...
, Dzungars). 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
Kokand
Kokand is a city in Fergana Province in eastern Uzbekistan, at the southwestern edge of the Fergana Valley. It has a population of 192,500 . Kokand is 228 km southeast of Tashkent, 115 km west of Andijan, and 88 km west of Fergana...
Khanate
Khanate
Khanate, or Chanat, is a Turco-Mongol-originated word used to describe a political entity ruled by a Khan. In modern Turkish, the word used is kağanlık, and in modern Azeri of the republic of Azerbaijan, xanlıq. In Mongolian the word khanlig is used, as in "Khereidiin Khanlig" meaning the Khanate...
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
-History:The wooden fort of Omsk was erected in 1716 to protect the expanding Russian frontier along the Ishim and the Irtysh rivers against the Kyrgyz nomads of the Steppes...
founded a fortress on the upper Ishim River
Ishim River
Ishim River is a river running through Kazakhstan and Russia. Its length is 2,450 km , average discharge is 56,3 m³/s . It is a left tributary of the Irtysh River. The Ishim River is partly navigable in its lower reaches. The upper course of the Ishim passes through Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan...
named Akmolinsk, which is known today as Astana
Astana
Astana , formerly known as Akmola , Tselinograd and Akmolinsk , is the capital and second largest city of Kazakhstan, with an officially estimated population of 708,794 as of 1 August 2010...
, capital of Kazakhstan. In the same year they founded the fort of Kokshetau
Kokshetau
Kokshetau , formerly known as Kokchetav is the administrative center of Akmola Province, northern Kazakhstan. It has a population of 125,225 .-Geography:Astana, the new capital of Kazakhstan, is distant 1245 km south-eastwards...
.
In the 1850s, the construction of Russian forts began in southern Kazakhstan including Fort Shevchenko
Fort Shevchenko
Fort Shevchenko is a military-base town and administrative center of Tupkaragan District in Mangystau Province, Kazakhstan on the Caspian Sea . Primary industries include fishing and the extraction of stone.-History:...
(Fort Alexandrovsky), Kyzylorda (Fort Petrovsky), Kazaly
Kazaly
Kazaly is a town in the Kyzylorda Province in Kazakhstan, located on the right bank of the Syr Darya River. It serves as the administrative center of Kazaly District...
(Kazalinsk) and Almaty
Almaty
Almaty , also known by its former names Verny and Alma-Ata , is the former capital of Kazakhstan and the nation's largest city, with a population of 1,348,500...
(Verniy).
In 1863, the Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
created two administrative districts, the Governor-Generalships in Central Asia
Central Asia
Central Asia is a core region of the Asian continent from the Caspian Sea in the west, China in the east, Afghanistan in the south, and Russia in the north...
of Russian Turkestan
Russian Turkestan
Russian Turkestan was the western part of Turkestan within the Russian Empire , comprising the oasis region to the south of the Kazakh steppes, but not the protectorates of the Emirate of Bukhara and the Khanate of Khiva.-History:-Establishment:Although Russia had been pushing south into the...
(the oasis region to the South of the Kazakh steppes and Zhetysu (Semirechye) region) and that of the Steppe
Steppe
In physical geography, steppe is an ecoregion, in the montane grasslands and shrublands and temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biomes, characterized by grassland plains without trees apart from those near rivers and lakes...
( modern eastern and northern Kazakhstan including the lands of the Siberian and Semiryechensk Cossask Hosts) with their capital at Omsk
Omsk
-History:The wooden fort of Omsk was erected in 1716 to protect the expanding Russian frontier along the Ishim and the Irtysh rivers against the Kyrgyz nomads of the Steppes...
. The north-west of Kazakhstan was at the time part of Orenburg
Orenburg
Orenburg is a city on the Ural River and the administrative center of Orenburg Oblast, Russia. It lies southeast of Moscow, very close to the border with Kazakhstan. Population: 546,987 ; 549,361 ; Highest point: 154.4 m...
gubernia. 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
Aktobe , formerly known as Aktyubinsk , is a city on the Ilek River in Kazakhstan. With a population of 277,700, it is the capital of Aktobe Province. Aktobe has a mixed ethnic community, including Kazakhs, Russians, Ukrainians, Tatars, Uyghurs, Chechens, Armenians, Jews and Greeks...
(Aktyubinsk), in 1879 Kostanay
Kostanay
Kostanay , formerly known as Kustanay and Nikolayevsk , is a city located in the northern part of Kazakhstan at the Tobol River. The population living in Kostanay is 301,317 people. Kostanay is the capital of Kostanay Province.-Public institutions:In Kostanay there are 8 higher educational...
. In the 1860s General Mikhail Chernyayev
Mikhail Chernyayev
Mikhail Grigorievich Chernyayev was a Russian general, who, together with Konstantin Kaufman and Mikhail Skobelev, led the Russian conquest of Central Asia under Alexander II....
conquered the only towns that existed in Kazakhstan before the Russian conquest Hazrat-e Turkestan
Hazrat-e Turkestan
-References:*Hill, John E. Through the Jade Gate to Rome: A Study of the Silk Routes during the Later Han Dynasty, 1st to 2nd Centuries CE. BookSurge, Charleston, South Carolina. ISBN 978-1-4392-2134-1.*Hulsewé, A. F. P. and Loewe, M. A. N. 1979...
, Taraz
Taraz
Taraz , is a city and a center of the Jambyl Province in Kazakhstan. It is located in the south of Kazakhstan, near the border with Kyrgyzstan, on the Talas River...
and Shymkent
Shymkent
Shymkent , formerly known as Chimkent , is the capital city of South Kazakhstan Province, the most populated region in Kazakhstan. It is the third most populous city in Kazakhstan behind Almaty and Astana with a population of 629,600 . A major railroad junction on the Turkestan-Siberia Railway, the...
that belonged to the Khanate of Kokand
Khanate of Kokand
The Khanate of Kokand was a state in Central Asia that existed from 1709–1883 within the territory of modern eastern Uzbekistan, southern Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan...
.
Christianity spread in the predominantly Muslim region together with Russian colonists: the Russian Orthodox Church
Russian Orthodox Church
The Russian Orthodox Church or, alternatively, the Moscow Patriarchate The ROC is often said to be the largest of the Eastern Orthodox churches in the world; including all the autocephalous churches under its umbrella, its adherents number over 150 million worldwide—about half of the 300 million...
established a Central Asian bishopric in 1871 with its bishop
Bishop
A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...
first residing in Verniy
Almaty
Almaty , also known by its former names Verny and Alma-Ata , is the former capital of Kazakhstan and the nation's largest city, with a population of 1,348,500...
and after 1916 in Tashkent
Tashkent
Tashkent is the capital of Uzbekistan and of the Tashkent Province. The officially registered population of the city in 2008 was about 2.2 million. Unofficial sources estimate the actual population may be as much as 4.45 million.-Early Islamic History:...
.
In the 1890s, many non-Cossack Russian settlers migrated into the fertile lands of northern and eastern Kazakhstan. In 1906 the Trans-Aral Railway
Trans-Aral Railway
The broad gauge Trans-Aral Railway was built in 1906 connecting Orenburg and Tashkent, then both in the Russian Empire. For the first part of the 20th century it was the only railway-connection between European Russia and Central Asia.There were plans to construct the Orenburg-Tashkent line as...
between Orenburg
Orenburg
Orenburg is a city on the Ural River and the administrative center of Orenburg Oblast, Russia. It lies southeast of Moscow, very close to the border with Kazakhstan. Population: 546,987 ; 549,361 ; Highest point: 154.4 m...
and Tashkent
Tashkent
Tashkent is the capital of Uzbekistan and of the Tashkent Province. The officially registered population of the city in 2008 was about 2.2 million. Unofficial sources estimate the actual population may be as much as 4.45 million.-Early Islamic History:...
was completed, further facilitating Russian and Ukrainian migration to Central Asia.
Between 1906 and 1912, more than half a million 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 Russians in Kazakhstan, about 30 % of the total population.
Soviet period
Russians of Kazakhstan together with other ethnic groups of the region suffered heavily during the Russian Civil WarRussian Civil War
The Russian Civil War was a multi-party war that occurred within the former Russian Empire after the Russian provisional government collapsed to the Soviets, under the domination of the Bolshevik party. Soviet forces first assumed power in Petrograd The Russian Civil War (1917–1923) was a...
and Collectivisation in the USSR
Collectivisation in the USSR
Collectivization in the Soviet Union was a policy pursued under Stalin between 1928 and 1940. The goal of this policy was to consolidate individual land and labour into collective farms...
and endured repeated famines and unrest. In 1918-1931 Basmachi Revolt
Basmachi Revolt
The Basmachi movement or Basmachi Revolt was an uprising against Russian Imperial and Soviet rule by the Muslim, largely Turkic peoples of Central Asia....
affected areas of southern Kazakh SSR
Kazakh SSR
The Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic , also known as the Kazakh SSR for short, was one of republics that made up the Soviet Union.At in area, it was the second largest constituent republic in the USSR, after the Russian SFSR. Its capital was Alma-Ata . Today it is the independent state of...
often taking a form of an ethnic conflict between Russian and Ukrainian farmers and native Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
nomads. 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
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
. During the 1920s and 1930s some Russians in Kazakhstan felt discriminated against by Communist authorities who promoted Kazakh language and culture in the region and targeted many local ethnic Russians as either kulak
Kulak
Kulaks were a category of relatively affluent peasants in the later Russian Empire, Soviet Russia, and early Soviet Union...
s or Cossacks.
In 1925 despite local objections predominantly ethnic Russian North Kazakhstan Province as well as parts of Akmola Province
Akmola Province
Akmola Province is a centrally located province of Kazakhstan. Its capital is Kokshetau. The capital of the whole country, Astana, is enclosed in the province, but is politically separate from Akmola Province. The province's population is 748,300; Kokshetau's is 124,000. The area is 146,200...
, Aktobe Province, West Kazakhstan Province
West Kazakhstan Province
West Kazakhstan Province is a province of Kazakhstan. Its capital is Oral , a city of about 200,000 inhabitants.-Geography:...
, Pavlodar Province, Kostanay Province
Kostanay Province
Kostanay Province is a province of Kazakhstan. Its capital is Kostanay City. The population of the province is 900,300. Population living in Kostanay is 207,000 that makes 23 % of the population of province...
and East Kazakhstan Province formerly considered southern Ural and Siberian oblast
Oblast
Oblast is a type of administrative division in Slavic countries, including some countries of the former Soviet Union. The word "oblast" is a loanword in English, but it is nevertheless often translated as "area", "zone", "province", or "region"...
s of RSFSR were transferred to Kazakh SSR. Local Russians who opposed the land transfers were criticized by the Bolshevik leaders in Moscow as “chauvinists
Chauvinism
Chauvinism, in its original and primary meaning, is an exaggerated, bellicose patriotism and a belief in national superiority and glory. It is an eponym of a possibly fictional French soldier Nicolas Chauvin who was credited with many superhuman feats in the Napoleonic wars.By extension it has come...
”.
Many European Soviet citizens and much of Russia's industry were relocated to Kazakhstan during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, when Nazi armies threatened to capture all the European industrial centers of the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
. These migrants founded mining towns which quickly grew to become major industrial centers such as Karaganda
Karaganda
Karagandy , more commonly known by its Russian name Karaganda, , is the capital of Karagandy Province in Kazakhstan. It is the fourth most populous city in Kazakhstan, behind Almaty , Astana and Shymkent, with a population of 471,800 . In the 1940s up to 70% of the city's inhabitants were ethnic...
(1934), Zhezkazgan (1938), Temirtau
Temirtau
Temirtau is a city in the Karaganda region of Kazakhstan. Pop 180,000.-History:*1905, June, 15 - the first groups of settlers settled down on the left bank of the Nura River. There were 40 families, that had arrived from Samara...
(1945) and Ekibastuz
Ekibastuz
Ekibastuz is a town in Pavlodar Province, northeastern Kazakhstan. it had a population of 141,000. It is served by Ekibastuz Airport.-History:...
(1948). In 1955 town of Baikonur
Baikonur
Baikonur , formerly known as Leninsk, is a city in Kyzylorda Province of Kazakhstan, rented and administered by the Russian Federation. It was constructed to service the Baikonur Cosmodrome and was officially renamed Baikonur by Russian president Boris Yeltsin on December 20, 1995.The shape of the...
was built to support the Baikonur Cosmodrome
Baikonur Cosmodrome
The Baikonur Cosmodrome , also called Tyuratam, is the world's first and largest operational space launch facility. It is located in the desert steppe of Kazakhstan, about east of the Aral Sea, north of the Syr Darya river, near Tyuratam railway station, at 90 meters above sea level...
to this day its administered by Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
. Many more Russians arrived in the years 1953-1965,during the so-called Virgin Lands Campaign
Virgin Lands Campaign
The Virgin Lands Campaign was an initiative by Nikita Khrushchev to open up vast tracts of unseeded steppe in the northern Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic and the Altay region of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, started in 1954....
of Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev led the Soviet Union during part of the Cold War. He served as First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964, and as Chairman of the Council of Ministers, or Premier, from 1958 to 1964...
. 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 premier Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev is a former Soviet statesman, having served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1985 until 1991, and as the last head of state of the USSR, having served from 1988 until its dissolution in 1991...
appointed Gennady Kolbin
Gennady Kolbin
Gennady Kolbin was the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Kazakh SSR from December 16, 1986 to June 22, 1989.Kolbin had not worked in the Kazakh SSR prior to his appointment...
, with no ties to the republic as the first secretary of the Central Committee of Communist Party
Communist party
A political party described as a Communist party includes those that advocate the application of the social principles of communism through a communist form of government...
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 Nazarbayev
Nursultan Abishuly Nazarbayev has served as the President of Kazakhstan since the nation received its independence in 1991, after the fall of the Soviet Union...
who following the dissolution of the Soviet Union
Dissolution of the Soviet Union
The dissolution of the Soviet Union was the disintegration of the federal political structures and central government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , resulting in the independence of all fifteen republics of the Soviet Union between March 11, 1990 and December 25, 1991...
became the president of independent Kazakhstan.
Post-Soviet Period
Although Nursultan 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 the perceived lack of economic opportunities as well as alleged discrimination. . A number of factors contributed to this situation. Following independence from the Soviet Union, the Kazakhstani government adopted a policy of “Kazakhization” that sought to affirm the ethnically Kazakh nature of the country (as opposed to other ethnic groups like Russians) 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. Some interpreted this to mean that membership or belonging in the nation-state of Kazakhstan was defined primarily by Kazakh ethnicity instead of citizenship. This alienated many Russians who felt that the government was ignoring the multi-national composition of the country and excluding them from its vision for the newly independent state. Another component of this strategy was evident in the removal of ethnic Russians from influential government positions and their replacement with Kazakhs. This occurred both in the central government and at the province level, with Kazakh elites appointed to leading positions in predominantly Russian oblasts in the northern part of the country. The political power of Russians in the country was further reduced in other ways. 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 setting the boundaries of electoral districts. 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 inter-ethnic communication but was 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 (From 6,227,549 in 1989). 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 Putin
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin served as the second President of the Russian Federation and is the current Prime Minister of Russia, as well as chairman of United Russia and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Union of Russia and Belarus. He became acting President on 31 December 1999, when...
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 2 to 3 generations were far less likely to emigrate. This group is mostly concentrated in rural regions, especially in the northern part of the country. During the 1990’s this group made up 66% of Kazakhstan’s Russian population but only 1/3 of the migrants who left the country. The Russian community in Kazakhstan today exists not in a narrow ethnic sense but as a part of larger Russian-speaking community which also includes mostly Russophone
Russophone
A Russophone is literally a speaker of the Russian language either natively or by preference. At the same time the term is used in a more specialized meaning to describe the category of people whose cultural background is associated with Russian language regardless of ethnic and territorial...
Ukrainians
Ukrainians
Ukrainians are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine, which is the sixth-largest nation in Europe. The Constitution of Ukraine applies the term 'Ukrainians' to all its citizens...
, as well as many Volga German
Volga German
The Volga Germans were ethnic Germans living along the River Volga in the region of southern European Russia around Saratov and to the south. Recruited as immigrants to Russia in the 18th century, they were allowed to maintain German culture, language, traditions and churches: Lutherans, Reformed,...
s, Tatars
Tatars
Tatars are a Turkic speaking ethnic group , numbering roughly 7 million.The majority of Tatars live in the Russian Federation, with a population of around 5.5 million, about 2 million of which in the republic of Tatarstan.Significant minority populations are found in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan,...
and Jews
Jews
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
and even a number of Russified Kazakhs
Kazakhs
The Kazakhs are a Turkic people of the northern parts of Central Asia ....
. Russians are still an influential socio-political group in Kazakhstan, and they remain active in Kazakhstan's public, military, cultural and economic life.
Prominent ethnic Russians from Kazakhstan
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- Alexander DutovAlexander DutovAlexander Ilyich Dutov , one of the leaders of the Cossack counterrevolution in the Urals, Lieutenant General .Dutov was born in Kazalinsk...
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- Vsevolod IvanovVsevolod IvanovVsevolod Vyacheslavovich Ivanov was a notable Soviet writer praised for the colourful adventure tales set in the Asiatic part of Russia during the Civil War.-Biography:...
- Andrey KashechkinAndrey KashechkinAndrey Kashechkin is a Kazakhstani road racing cyclist, who rides for the UCI ProTour team .Kashechkin was born in Kyzyl-Orda, in the former Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic....
- Andrei KivilevAndrei KivilevAndrei Kivilev was a professional road bicycle racer from Taldykorgan, Kazakhstan. In March 2003, he fell heavily during the Paris–Nice race and subsequently died of his injuries...
- Nikolay KoksharovNikolay KoksharovNikolai Ivanovich Koksharov was a Russian mineralogist, crystallographer, and major general in the Russian army....
- Lavr KornilovLavr KornilovLavr Georgiyevich Kornilov was a military intelligence officer, explorer, and general in the Imperial Russian Army during World War I and the ensuing Russian Civil War...
- Ruslana KorshunovaRuslana KorshunovaRuslana Sergeyevna Korshunova was a Kazakh model of Russian descent. After establishing herself as a rising figure in the fashion industry by posing for magazines like Vogue and designers such as Vera Wang and Nina Ricci....
- Elena LikhovtsevaElena LikhovtsevaElena Alexandrovna Likhovtseva is a Russian tennis player, currently inactive. She turned professional in January 1992 at the age of 16.Likhovtseva's career best appearance in a Grand Slam was when she reached the semi finals of the French Open 2005 before she was defeated by Mary Pierce, 6–1 6–1...
- Yuri LonchakovYuri LonchakovYury Valentinovich Lonchakov is a Russian cosmonaut and a veteran of three space missions. He has spent 200 days in space and has conducted two career spacewalks.- Personal :...
- Sergey LukyanenkoSergey LukyanenkoSergei Vasilievich Lukyanenko is a science fiction and fantasy author, writing in Russian, and is arguably the most popular contemporary Russian sci-fi writer...
- Oleg MaskaevOleg MaskaevOleg Alexandrovich Maskaev is a Russian professional boxer and a former WBC heavyweight champion. He is an ethnic Mordvin.-Boxing career:Maskaev, a former mine worker, began his career in the 1980s as an amateur boxer in the Soviet Union, where he held a victory over world champion Vitali...
- Vladimir MuravyovVladimir MuravyovVladimir Pavlovich Muravyov is a former Soviet athlete, winner of two gold medals in 4×100 m relay at the Olympic Games.He was also 3 times Soviet champion outdoors, and 2 times indoor champion....
- Evgeni NabokovEvgeni NabokovEvgeni Viktorovich Nabokov is a Russian professional ice hockey goaltender who is playing for the New York Islanders of the National Hockey League .Nabokov was selected by San Jose in the 1994 NHL Entry Draft...
- Viktor PatsayevViktor PatsayevViktor Ivanovich Patsayev was a Soviet cosmonaut who flew on the Soyuz 11 mission and had the unfortunate distinction of being part of the second crew to die during a space flight...
- Alexander PerezhoginAlexander PerezhoginAlexander Perezhogin is a Russian professional ice hockey player currently playing for Avangard Omsk of the Kontinental Hockey League .-Playing career:...
- Den Piterskov Lynch
- Vitaliy Savin
- Vladimir Smirnov (skier)Vladimir Smirnov (skier)Vladimir Mikhaylovich Smirnov is an Kazakhstani former cross-country skier who raced from the mid-1980s until 1988 for the USSR and, later, for his native country...
- Adolf TolkachevAdolf TolkachevAdolf Georgievich Tolkachev Адольф Георгиевич Толкачёв was a Soviet Union electronics engineer who provided key documents to the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency over the years between 1979 and 1985...
- Alexander VolkovAlexander Melentyevich VolkovAlexander Melentyevich Volkov was a Soviet novelist and mathematician.He wrote several historical novels, but is mostly remembered for a series of children's books based on L...
- Oleg YankovskyOleg YankovskyOleg Ivanovich Yankovsky was a Soviet/Russian actor who has excelled in psychologically sophisticated roles of modern intellectuals...
- Vladimir ZhirinovskyVladimir ZhirinovskyVladimir Volfovich Zhirinovsky is a Russian politician, colonel of the Russian Army, founder and the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia , Vice-Chairman of the State Duma, and a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe....
- Alexander VinokourovAlexander VinokourovAlexander Nikolaevich Vinokourov, also written Alexandre Vinokourov, is an ethnically Russian Kazakhstani professional road bicycle racer who currently competes with the UCI ProTeam Astana...