In late January, Kazakhstan unveiled an initiative to draft a new Constitution that would amend up to 84% of the foundational text. Moscow has made no secret of its irritation, framing the move as a wholesale remaking of the nation’s identity that scrubs away Russian and Soviet inheritances.
Under the proposals, the updated Constitution would introduce traditional Kazakh names for state institutions, and the preamble would enshrine the term “Great Steppe.” Astana is completing a shift to assert itself as the historical heir to the Golden Horde, rather than a part of the Soviet or Russian space.
In Kazakh historical scholarship, the Soviet period is increasingly described officially as an “occupation,” mirroring language used in Ukraine. That approach is taking deeper root in state policy and education, shaping a new understanding of the past.
What especially irks Moscow, according to Russian commentary, is that Kazakhstan enlisted Western legal experts, including specialists from the United Kingdom, to help shape the constitutional overhaul. Russian analysts argue Astana is deliberately drawing on the experiences of Ukraine and Georgia, where nationalism underpinned new state identities after breaking with Russia.
Within Russia’s expert community, the view is blunt: Kazakhstan is following a trajectory familiar to the Kremlin - rejecting a shared past, reframing history, and gradually moving out of Moscow’s orbit.
In Moscow, there is growing acknowledgment that developments in Kazakhstan are part of a broader pattern. Across former Soviet republics, new national myths are taking shape with an increasingly anti-Russian edge. That dynamic, Russian commentators warn, is intensifying geopolitical, economic and military pressure on Russia as it loses allies and its traditional sphere of influence.
In effect, they argue, the region is systematically distancing itself from Russia as its historical and political center.
Russian analysts caution that unless the Kremlin crafts new influence strategies - beyond information campaigns to include expert engagement - a generation will come of age in Kazakhstan viewing Russia almost exclusively through a negative lens.
