Societal/cultural relations
Similar to political and economic relations, societal/cultural ties have remained mostly unchanged. Bilateral cooperation continued and expanded in cinema, theater and education. The two countries conducted “Days of Russian Culture in Kazakhstan” in 2020 and “Days of Kazakh Culture in Russia” in 2021. They also boosted Kazakh-Russian educational cooperation through increased academic exchanges. In 2023, Russia ranked sixth globally in terms of foreign students studying at its higher education institutions, after the US, the UK, Canada, France and Australia (Vedomosti, 2023), with around 351,000 foreign students. In recent years, Russia dramatically expanded the national quota of free higher education for foreign students from 18,000 in 2021 to 30,000 in 2023 (ICEF Monitor, 2023). As shown in the figure below, Kazakhstan has by far the largest number of international student enrollment at Russian universities.
After February 2022, most Western countries wound down or cancelled societal and cultural engagement with Russia. In contrast, Kazakhstan celebrated the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations with Russia with several large-scale cultural events such as the festival “Russia-Kazakhstan: Cultural Heritage” (held from September 28 to October 8, 2022) (Festival' «Rossija – Kazahstan, 2022), the second meeting of the Subcommittee on Cultural and Humanitarian Cooperation of the Intergovernmental Commission between Kazakhstan and Russia, and an official reception at the Kazakh Embassy in honor of the Day of the Republic of Kazakhstan, attended by Russian officials from the Presidential Administration, government, Duma and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, among others (General'noe konsul'stvo Respubliki Kazahstan v Kazani, 2022). These events signaled deepening bilateral ties between the two states despite Western sanctions.
More importantly, special attention was given to the preservation and advancement of the Russian language in Kazakhstan and other Central Asian states in 2022. For instance, President Tokayev supported an initiative to create an international organization for the promotion of the Russian language under the auspices of the Commonwealth of Independent States at the meeting of the Council of CIS Heads of State in Astana in October 2022 (V SNG uchredili Mezhdunarodnuju organizaciju po russkomu jazyku, 2023). The Russian language was declared a language of interethnic communication for the year 2023 across the CIS (V SNG 2023 god ob"javlen Godom russkogo jazyka kak jazyka mezhnacional'nogo obshhenija, 2023). This declaration entailed an action plan approved by the council that included nine comprehensive cultural activities, 42 scientific and educational conferences and forums, 32 cultural events in literature, music, poetry and theater, and 17 events aimed at providing advanced training to teachers of Russian (V SNG 2023 god ob"javlen Godom russkogo jazyka kak jazyka mezhnacional'nogo obshhenija, 2023).
These developments have been reflected in popular sentiments. According to the British NGO Open Democracy, in 2020 49% of Kazakhs were satisfied with the state of Russia-Kazakhstan bilateral relations, 26% expressed interest in closer cooperation with Moscow and 61% considered Russia’s influence as stabilizing in the region (Laruelle, 2020, Sadeshov, 2021). A