DISINFO: The West sponsored a typical colour revolution in Kazakhstan
SUMMARY
In Kazakhstan, similarly to Ukraine, Belarus and Georgia, the West sponsored a typical colour revolution for geopolitical purposes.
RESPONSE
Emerging pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative claiming that the January 2022 anti-government protests in Kazakhstan are part of a Western policy of staging “colour revolutions” in the countries of the former Easter block countries with the aim of destabilising Russia.
The pro-Kremlin media frequently falsely portray popular protests in the former Eastern block as instigated from abroad, often by the US and the West. The disinformation narrative has been applied, among others, to reports about protests in Georgia, Ukraine, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Belarus, Slovakia, Moldova with the aim of portraying protest movements as aggressive actors supported by foreign powers who constantly prepare new coups.
The trigger and immediate cause of the protests in Kazakhstan was the government's lifting of price controls on liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) that took place in early January in the Western region of Manghystau and unrest soon spread to the capital.
As the Guardian reports, the official story from the Kremlin began with explanations that the protests were a military coup organised by foreign terrorists. Later the notion of a "colour revolution" is added. However, the narrative is not based on facts and contains from many gaps and inconsistencies.
There are however more deep-rooted causes for the protests in a country that suffers from lack of democracy, corruption and economic difficulties despite being rich in economic resources. For example, Kazakhstan ranks 128 out of 167 countries in the 2020 Democracy Index, and also ranks 94 out of 180 countries in the 2020 Transparency International's Corruption Perception Index (CPI).
See also the statement by the EU High Representative here.
Read similar cases claiming that US-sponsored Kazakhstan protests aimed to undermine CIS stability, that Protests in Kazakhstan are a new Western attempt to organise a colour revolution and that EU and US aim to generate a new wave of anti-government protests in Belarus.