In Kazakhstan, in the city of Taraz, where mass protests turned into bloodshed and violence in January, workers from the Kazphosphate plant went on strike. The reason was an insult from the head of the digital transformation department, a Russian citizen Oleg Kulikov, who called the employees “rams”.
According to the media, which refer to the Labor Inspectorate of the Akimat of the Zhambyl region, more than 200 employees of Kazphosphate protested in total. The plant operator reported 400–500 strikers. Special police officers also arrived at the scene. It is reported that the boss apologized to the employees, but was fired anyway. A video has also been released showing one of the workers hitting a man in a suit in the face. The Basho Telegram channel claims that the same Kulikov took the blow to the face – as a result, his nose was broken.
The protesters also demanded an increase in their salary – the average salary of workers is 160-170 thousand tenge (350 euros). However, the main theme of the protest was dissatisfaction with the influx of Russians. On the video, you can hear the workers shouting: “speak the Kazakh language”, “leave for Russia”, “we don’t need such chauvinists”, “you are completely insolent, you called us sheep, chauvinists”, “fire all Russians”, according to Telegram- channel "Base". At the same time, journalists were told in the district akinat that "there was no interethnic conflict, the plant continues to work as usual."
Shortly before the protest, Russian blogger Dmitry Drobnitsky also spoke about the Kazakhs and Kazakhstan on the air of the Evening with Vladimir Solovyov program. “Let's still pay attention to the fact that the next problem is Kazakhstan. Because the same Nazi processes as in Ukraine can also begin there. And there are a lot of Russians there, and territories there… And Semipalatinsk is there, and nuclear fuel for our entire Rosatom is also there.”
Deputy Foreign Minister of Kazakhstan Roman Vasilenko said that such statements "damage the traditionally close relations between Kazakhstan and Russia" and "deserve an appropriate reaction from the Russian authorities."
Kazphosphate is owned by the Nigmatulin brothers and Galymzhan Yessenov, the nephew of Nursultan Nazarbayev Akhmedzhan Asimov. Yessenov is on the 20th line of the richest rating and on the 17th – the rating of the most influential businessmen of Forbes Kazakhstan.
The main activity of Kazphosphate JSC is the extraction and processing of phosphorus ore, enrichment and processing of raw materials, the production of mineral fertilizers, yellow phosphorus and phosphorus-containing products at deposits located in the Zhambyl region.