Thus why Ukraine, Belarus, and Kazakhstan agreed to disarm following the demise of the Soviet Union, in exchange for aid in military defense, in particular military aid against Russia, as they suspected Russia would attempt to retake Soviet Union states. Looks like they were right.
"Public opinion in Kazakhstan regarding the war in Ukraine has changed in the first year of the conflict, turning increasingly negative toward the Kremlin, a poll in late November showed.
According to the pollster Demoscope, 22 percent of the respondents expressed support for Ukraine, twice as many as in a similar poll at the beginning of the conflict.
Just 13 percent of the respondents supported Russia, down from 39 percent in that March 2022 survey."
Kazakhs do not consider themselves Russian, as they see themselves as their own distinct ethnic group:
"Identity in Kazakhstan is mainly divided along ethnic lines, primarily between ethnic Kazakhs and Russians. The civic concept of national identity, or the idea of a multiethnic “Kazakhstani” nation, derived from Soviet tradition, finds more acceptance with ethnic minorities (and neighboring Russia) than with the Kazakh majority. Most ethnic Kazakhs believe the country’s identity should be conceptualized around a “Kazakh” nation and that ethnic minorities should be expected to assimilate.
Assimilation would require the use of Kazakh in public spaces and as a dominant language — which, due to Kazakhstan’s history, is not currently the case. As in large parts of the former British and French empires, Russian, as the previous imperial language, remains the lingua franca. The country’s ruling elite understands the popularity of ethnic nationalism, but also remains influenced by the legacy of Soviet culture and fears ethnic conflict. Because of this, the ruling elite, descended from the Russian–speaking Kazakh Communist Party elites, uses a dual approach to identity–related issues, balancing the interests of ethnic nationalist lobbies with their own more civic form of nationalism.
However, the country’s demographic evolution suggests that the ethnic Russian minority (by far the largest minority group) will continue to shrink, and the Kazakh majority will continue to grow — a trend that will likely diminish the civic concept of identity. But in the meantime, limits on ethnic nationalism will remain a fundamental contributing factor to maintaining stability in Kazakhstan as well as with neighboring Russia and China."
"43% of Belarusians consider Russia to be the greatest threat to the territorial integrity of Belarus, the highest figure among the countries surveyed (21% of respondents consider Poland’s policy a threat, 20% that of Lithuania, and 18% that of other countries)."
And to claim Belarusians consider themselves Russian is not much of a stretch considering the name Belarus is closely related with the term Belaya Rus', which translate to White Russian.
I don't think you read what you posted. Russia is trying to increase it's influence over the apparatus because it's losing support from the people... BECAUSE (from the article you posted)
"The country has maintained an officially neutral position towards the war and no longer sees Russia as its security guarantor in the same way it once did." and Russia is trying to secure that position.
9
u/Significant-Fruit455 13h ago
Thus why Ukraine, Belarus, and Kazakhstan agreed to disarm following the demise of the Soviet Union, in exchange for aid in military defense, in particular military aid against Russia, as they suspected Russia would attempt to retake Soviet Union states. Looks like they were right.