The “Pugachev rebellion” in the context of post‐Soviet Kazakh nationalization*

Research for this article was supported by the Institute of International Education, the National Science Foundation, and the United States Institute of Peace. None of these organizations however, is responsible for the views expressed. I am grateful to Thomas Callaghy, Rudra Sil, Edward A. Schatz, and Charles King for their comments.

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size

Notes

Research for this article was supported by the Institute of International Education, the National Science Foundation, and the United States Institute of Peace. None of these organizations however, is responsible for the views expressed. I am grateful to Thomas Callaghy, Rudra Sil, Edward A. Schatz, and Charles King for their comments.

Rogers Brubaker, Nationalism Reframed: Nationhood and the National Question in the New Europe (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996), p. 9.

See, for example, Ian Bremmer, “Nazarbaev and the North: State‐Building and Ethnic Relations in Kazakhstan,” Ethnic and Racial Studies, Vol. 17, No. 4, 1994, pp. 619–635; Anatoly M. Khazanov, “The Ethnic Problems of Contemporary Kazakhstan,” Central Asian Survey, Vol. 14, No. 2, 1995, pp. 243–264; Neil Melvin, Russians beyond Russia: The Politics of National Identity (London: Royal Institute of International Affairs, 1995); Robert Kaiser and Jeff Chinn, “Russian–Kazakh Relations in Kazakhstan,” Post‐Soviet Geography, Vol. 36, No. 5, 1995, pp. 257–273; Rogers Brubaker, Nationalism Reframed: Nationhood and the National Question in the New Europe (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996); Martha Brill Olcott, “Kazakhstan: Pushing for Eurasia,” in Ian Bremmer and Ray Taras, eds, New States, New Politics: Building the Post‐Soviet Nations (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997), pp. 547–570; and Sue Davis and Steven O. Sabol, “The Importance of Being Ethnic: Minorities in Post‐Soviet States—The Case of Russians in Kazakstan,” Nationalities Papers, Vol. 26, No. 3, 1998, pp. 473–491.

Unfortunately Olcott's discussion of the Pugachev incident is brief. Martha Brill Olcott, Kazakhstan: Unfulfilled Promise (Washington: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 2002), p. 79.

Pauline Jones Loung, Institutional Change and Political Continuity in Post‐Soviet Central Asia (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002), p. 95.

Kratkie Itogi Perepisi Naseleniia 1999 Goda v Respublike Kazakhstan (Almaty: Agency of the Republic of Kazakhstan for Statistics, 1999), p. 103.

In comparison, of the 742,765 Kazakhs who reside in East Kazakhstan, 86% speak Russian. Natsional'nyi Sostav Naseleniia Respubliki Kazakhstan, 2 Tom: Itogi Perepisi Naseleniia 1999 Goda v Respublike Kazakhstan (Almaty: Agency of the Republic of Kazakhstan for Statistics, 2000), p. 86.

In 1920 the Kirgiz Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was part of Russia. Personal interview with Aleksandr Alekseenko Nikolaevich, Director of the Scientific Research Institute of Demography at the East Kazakhstan State University, 18 July 2000.

Ingvar Svanberg, “Kazakhs,” in Graham Smith, ed., The Nationalities Question in the Soviet Union (London: Longman, 1990), p. 202; Martha Brill Olcott, The Kazakhs (Stanford: Hoover Institution Press, 1997), p. 302.

Ian Murray Matley, “The Population and the Land,” in Edward Allworth, ed., Central Asia: 130 Years of Russian Dominance, A Historical Overview (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1994), p. 107.

The Kazakh census provides population statistics for each oblast, but not for cities within each oblast. Population and migration statistics were obtained from the Informational‐Statistical Center of East Kazakhstan in Ust'‐Kamenogorsk.

In 1989 Russians comprised 37.4% of Kazakhstan's total population. The 7.4% decrease in the size of Kazakhstan's Russian population is due primarily to emigration. Kratkie Itogi Perepisi Naseleniia 1999 Goda v Respublike Kazakhstan (Almaty: Agency of the Republic of Kazakhstan for Statistics, 1999), p. 11.

In the fall of 1773, during the reign of Catherine the Great, a Cossack by the name of Emelian Pugachev led aggrieved Ural Cossacks in a rebellion against tsarist authorities. Pugachev's movement spread beyond the Urals, and eventually became a mass rebellion that encompassed workers, serfs, and other minority groups. The rebellion ended in late 1774 with the defeat of Pugachev's troops, and Pugachev's escape to the Urals. Ultimately Pugachev was handed over to the authorities, then tried and executed in Moscow. Nicholas V. Riasanovsky, A History of Russia (New York: Oxford University Press, 1984), pp. 260–261.

V. Vologodskii, “Ust'‐Kamenogorsk Putchit,” Ustinika, 26 November 1999, p. 5.

Tat'iana Bendz', “Perevorot—Khronika Ust'‐Kamenogorskova Dela,” Ekspress K, 8 December 1999, p. 3.

Unless otherwise noted, all translations are mine. Dmitrii Vinnik, “Ispoved' Russkikh Terroristov,” Ustinika, 26 November 1999, p. 4.

Tat'iana Bendz', “Perevorot—Khronika Ust'‐Kamenogorskova Dela,” Ekspress K, 8 December 1999, p. 3.

Vikroriia Shevchenko, “Podrobnosti v Poiskakh Gerostratovoi Slavy, Pribil v Ust'‐Kamenogorsk Terrorist Kazimirchuk‐Pugachev,” Kazakhstanskaia Pravda, 27 January 2000, p. 4.

Mira Alipinova, “Pugachev Zadumal Miatezh, Chtoby Proslavit'sia,” Rudnyi Altai, 29 January 2000, p. 2.

Personal interview, 19 July 2000.

Most likely Pugachev and a few recruits initially came to Ust'‐Kamenogorsk in April or May 1998. It is reported that Pugachev talked openly about secession during this visit, which was a year and a half before the November 1999 arrest. Valentina Dudkova, “Razboinik Byl v BKO eshche Poltora Goda Nazad,” Ekspress K, 30 November 1999, p. 2; Nikolai Ivanov, “Nikoai Ivanov: Pugachev—Eto Stoprotsentnyi Provokator,” Ustinka, 3 December 1999, p. 4. Kazakhstan's Committee on National Security claims that Kazimirchuk and his comrades visited East Kazakhstan at least three times before the arrest. Tat'iana Bendz', “Perevorot—Khronika Ust'‐Kamenogorskova Dela,” Ekspress K, 8 December 1999, p. 3.

Dmitrii Vinnik, “Ispoved' Russkikh Terroristov,” Ustinika, 26 November 1999, p. 4.

Vladimir Bogovitskii, “Zaderzhana Groupa Rossiian, Gotovivshikhsia Sozdat' v BKO Avtonomiiu ‘Russkii Altai,’ ” Panorama, 26 November 1999, p. 6.

Andrei Kratenko, “K Pugachevu Shli, v Tom Chisle po Lybvi …” Ekspress K, 27 January 2000, p. 1.

O. Ushakova, “Pugachev Sbril Borodu po Premeru Radueva,” Ustinka, 24 March 2000, p. 4; Mira Alipinova, “Sud Nad Pugachevym Budet Otkrytym,” Rudnyi Altai, 25 March 2000, p. 3.

Viktoriia Shevchenko, “Perevorot ne Sostoialsia,” Rudnyi Altai, 23 November 1999, p. 1.

Andrei Kratenko, “Pugachev—Eto Tol'ko Klichka,” Ekspress K, 24 November 1999, p. 1.

“Politicheskaia Stabil'nost' Pod Ugrozoi?” Nashe Delo, 25 November 1999, p. 5; Mira Alipinova, “Chas Iks Dlia Pugacheva Probil Ran'she,” Rudnyi Altai, 25 November 1999, p. 1.

“Bunt Pugachevu ne Udalsia,” Na Strazhe, 25 November 1999, p. 1; “Zagovor, Kotorova ne Bylo,” Novoe Pokalenie, 26 November 1999, p. 1.

V. Mette is the Akim, or governor, of East Kazakhstan. See the Akim's short speech, “Uvazhaemue Vostochnokazakhstantsy!” Rudnyi Altai, 25 November 1999, p. 1.

Ugolovnyi Kodeks Respubliki Kazakhstan (Almaty: Iurist, 2000), Article 168, p. 60.

Viktoriia Shevchenko, “Podrobnosti v Poiskakh Gerostratovoi Slavy, Pribil v Ust'‐Kamenogorsk Terrorist Kazimirchuk‐Pugachev,” Kazakhstanskaia Pravda, 27 January 2000, p. 4. Ugolovnyi Kodeks Respubliki Kazakhstan (Almaty: Iurist, 2000), Article 170, p. 61, Article 251, p. 91.

Mira Alipinova, “Chas Iks Dlia Pugacheva Probil Ran'she,” Rudnyi Altai, 25 November 1999, p. 1. Ugolovnyi Kodeks Respubliki Kazakhstan (Almaty: Iurist, 2000), Article 235, p. 86.

O. Ushakova, “Pugachev Sbril Borodu po Premeru Radueva,” Ustinka, 24 March 2000, p. 4.

I was unable to find information on Judge's Margarita Kislova's background.

Mira Alipinova, “Sud Nad Pugachevym Budet Otkrytym,” Rudnyi Altai, 25 March 2000, p. 3.

Sergei Vasil'ev, “Otkrytyi Sud v Krytom Tsentrale,” Ustinka, 14 April 2000, p. 3.

Andrei Kratenko, “K Pugachevu Shli, v Tom Chisle po Lybvi …” Ekspress K, 27 January 2000, p. 1.

Sergei Vasil'ev, “Konets ‘Pugachevshchiny,’ ” Ustinka, 26 May 2000, p. 5; personal interview with Kazimirchuk's defense attorney, Sergei Mikhailovich Suprun, 19 July 2000.

Vasil'ev, “Konets ‘Pugachevshchiny,’ ” p. 5.

Mira Alipinova, “Vynecen Prigovor,” Rudnyi Altai, 10 June 2000, p. 1. Given that there were 143 tenge to the U.S. dollar in early 2000, Pugachev's fine is equivalent to roughly U.S.$2,535.

Sergei Vasil'ev, “Protsess Zavershen,” Ustinka, 16 June 2000, p. 3.

Kazakhstan's legal system is based on three levels of authority: the district court, the oblast court, and the supreme court, which is located in Astana. The oblast court verifies the legality of the district trial, serving primarily as a supervisory court, and has the right to change a decision of a district trial only in favor of the convicted. Personal interview, Sergei Mikhailovich Suprun, 19 July 2000.

G. Vologodskaia, “Vostochno‐Kazakhstanskii Sud Peresmotrel Sroki ‘Pugachevtsam,’ ” Ustinka, 14 July 2000, p. 3.

Vladimir Sergeev, “Pugachevtsy Otmotaiut Srok v Kazakhstane,” Novoe Pokolenie, 28 January 2000, p. 1. Although President Putin occasionally appealed to President Nazarbaev on behalf of the accused, he did not interfere with the legal proceedings.

Although I do not have data on the effect of informal nationalization practices on Russians in Ust'‐Kamenogorsk, extensive research I conducted in Almaty indicates that Russians are highly dissatisfied with Kazakh nationalization, and in particular with informal discriminatory personnel practices. Interview data suggest that informal personnel practices greatly disadvantage Russians, and thus create a widespread sense of perceived ethnic discrimination among Almaty Russians.

Zakon Respubliki Kazakhstan o Grazhdanstve Respubliki Kazakhstan, 20 December 1991, Article 3.

The right to hold dual citizenship is denied in the Law on Citizenship (Article 3), and all three Constitutions: 1993, Article 4; 1995, Article 10; 1998, Article 10.

Konstitutsiia Respubliki Kazakhstan, 28 January 1993, Article 4.

Zakon Kazkhskoi Sovetskoi Sotsialisticheskoi Respubliki o Iazykakh v Kazakhskoi SSR, 22 September 1989, Article 1.

Ibid., Article 2.

Ibid., Articles 8, 10, 13, 16.

Postanovlenie Kabineta Ministrov Respubliki Kazakhstan o Khode Realizatsii Gosudarstvennoi Programmy Razvitiia Kazakhskogo Iazyka i Drugikh Natsional'hykh Iazykov v Respublike Kazakhstan na Period do 2000 goda, 21 January 1992, point 2.

This research was conducted by the Informational‐Analytical Center of Parliament, and the State Committee for National Policies. M. M. Arenov and S. Kalmykov, “Sovremennaia Iazykovaia Situatsiia v Respublike Kazakhstan,” Saiasat, No. 1, 1997, p. 22.

By contrast, 75% of Kazakhs in Kazakhstan claim knowledge of two or more languages. Itogi Perepisi Naseleniia 1999 goda v Respublike Kazakshtan: Naseleniia Respubliki Kazakhstan po Natsional'nostiam i Vladeniiu Iazykami (Almaty: Agency for Statistics of the Republic of Kazakhstan, 2000), p. 6.

Konstitutsiia Respubliki Kazakhstan, 28 January 1993, eighth point of the section entitled “Bases of Constitutional Formation.”

Konstitutsiia Respubliki Kazakhstan, 30 August 1995, Article 7; Konstitutsiia Respubliki Kazakhstan, 7 October 1998, Article 7.

The Kazakh Constitution does not, however, demand that parliamentary deputies be fluent in the state language. Ibid., Articles 41, 51, 58.

Italics mine. Rasporiazhenie Prezidenta Respubliki Kazakhstan o Kontseptsii Iazykovoi Politiki Respubliki Kazakhstan, 4 November 1996, p. 1.

When necessary, Russian may be used on an equal basis with Kazakh in state organs, agencies of local administration, official documentation, responses to citizen appeals, and legal proceedings. Ibid., Article 5.

Ibid., Article 23.

Zakon Respubliki Kazakhstan o Iazykakh v Respublike Kazakhstan, 11 July 1997, Article 4.

Ibid.

Postanovlenie Pravitel'stva o Gosudarstvennoi Terminologicheskoi Komissiii Pre Pravitel'stve Respubliki Kazakhstan, 21 April 1998.

Postanovlenie Pravitel'stva o Rasshirenii Sfery Upotrebleniia Gosudarstvennogo Iazyka v Gosudarstvennykh Organakh, 14 August 1998.

Ukaz Prezidenta Respubliki Kazakhstan o Gosudarstvennaia Programma Funktsionirovaniia i Razvitiia Iakykov, 5 October 1998.

It should be noted that linguistic nationalization has not penetrated Kazakhstan's educational system. Since 1989 formal policy has permitted Kazakh and Russian instruction in institutes of education. An analysis of informal practices, however, may reveal a different story.

Ian Bremmer and Cory Welt, “Kazakhstan's Quandary,” Journal of Democracy, Vol. 6, No. 3, 1995, p. 142.

Taras Kuzio, “History, Memory and Nation Building in the Post‐Soviet Colonial Space,” Nationalities Papers, Vol. 30, No. 2, 2002, p. 257.

Ian Bremmer, “Nazarbaev and the North: State‐Building and Ethnic Relations in Kazakhstan,” Ethnic and Racial Studies, Vol. 17, No. 4, 1994, pp. 619–635.

Elena Brusilovskaia, “Poligon Dlia Demokratii,” Argumenti i Fakti, No. 4, 2000, p. 3.

Pal Kolsto, Political Construction Sites: Nation‐Building in Russia and the Post‐Soviet States (Boulder: Westview Press, 2000), p. 131.

“Problemy Pereselentsev—Problemy Gosudarstva,” Kazakhstanskaia Pravda, 27 May, 1998, p. 1.

Bremmer, “Nazarbaev and the North.”

Roughly 500,000 Kazakhs abandoned their homeland in reaction to the 1916 uprising, 1917 revolution and civil war, early 1920s famine, and 1930s forced collectivization and denomadization. Anatoly M. Khazanov, “Ethnic Problems of Contemporary Kazakhstan,” Central Asian Survey, Vol. 14, No. 2, 1995, p. 246.

For example, the quota in 1993 was 10,000 families, in 1994 it was 7,000 families, in 1995 it was 5,000 families, in 1996 it was 4,000 families, in 1997 it was 2,180 families, and in 1998 it was 3,000 families. The 1993–1996 figures are from Erlan Karin and Andrei Chebatarev, “The Policy of Kazakhization in State and Government Institutions in Kazakhstan,” in The Nationalities Question in Post‐Soviet Kazakhstan (Chiba, Japan: Institute of Developing Economies, 2002), pp. 95. The 1997 and 1998 figures are from presidential decrees issued in 1997 and 1998, respectively. Ukaz Prezidenta Respubliki Kazakhstan o Kvote Immigratsii na 1997 god, 27 March 1997, and Ukaz Prezidenta Respubliki Kazakhstan o Kvote Immigratsii na 1998 god, 3 April 1997.

Elena Iur'evna Sadovskaia, “Vneshniaia Migratsiia v Respublike Kazakkhstan v 1990‐e gody: Prichiny, Posledstviia, Prognoz,” Tsentral'naia Aziia iKul'tura Mira, No. 1, 1998, p. 57.

Postonavlenie Kabineta Ministrov Respubliki Kazakhstan o Merakh po Realizatsii Postonovleniia Verkhovhogo Soveta Respubliki Kazakhstan “O Vvedenii v Deistvie Zakona Respubliki Kazakhstan ‘Ob Immigratsii,’ ” 15 December 1992, see Polozhenie o Departmente po Migratsii Naseleniia, point 4.

Postonavlenie Kabineta Ministrov Respubliki Kazakhstan ob Utverzhdenii Poriadka Sozdaniia Immigratsionnogo Zemel'nogo Fonda, 2 August 1994, point 2.

Ukaz Prezidenta Respubliki Kazakhstan ob Osnovnykh Napravleniiakh Migratsionnoi Politiki do 2000 goda, 19 March 1997.

Zakon Respubliki Kazakhstan o Migratsii Naseleniia, 13 December 1997, Article 29.

It should be noted that, despite state assistance, immigrant Kazakhs confront numerous problems in Kazakhstan. Many immigrants are unable to secure homes and jobs, partly because they do not speak Russian or Kazakh. For example, in 1998, 4,700 families who had returned to Kazakhstan lacked housing, and 54% of the immigrants that year were unable to find a job. Interview with Zautbek Turisbekov, Chairman of the Agency for Migration and Demography, Argumenty i Fakty, No. 46, 1998, p. 3. In addition, many returning Kazakhs lack Kazakh citizenship, despite the fact that the law on citizenship grants them the right to obtain citizenship. The problem is the complex process required for immigrant Kazakhs to obtain Kazakh citizenship—a total of 18 documents must be filled out and processed. Immigrant Kazakhs often give up prior citizenship because many countries, such as Mongolia, do not permit dual citizenship; they arrive in Kazakhstan without citizenship and remain in Kazakhstan without citizenship for at least two years. These immigrants have trouble finding work, and are denied unemployment benefits because they are not citizens of Kazakhstan. For more information, see Tulegen Izdibaev, “Zakon o Migratsii v Kazakhstane Fakticheski ne Ispolnizetsia,” Panorama, 24 December 1999, p. 4; Antynshash Dzhaganova, “Vernost' Otchei Zemle,” Kazakhstanskaia Pravda, 23 October 1999, p. 2.

Natsuko Oka, “Nationalities Policy in Kazakhstan: Interviewing Political and Cultural Elites,” in The Nationalities Question in Post‐Soviet Kazakhstan (Chiba, Japan: Institute of Developing Economies, 2002), p. 111.

These are registered oralmans. The total number of oralmans is higher, but of course unknown. Martha Brill Olcott, Kazakhstan: Unfulfilled Promise (Washington: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 2002), p. 176. A local source claims that between 1991 and 1997 about 38,000 Kazakh families, or 164,000 Kazakhs, returned to Kazakhstan. See “Problemy Pereselentsev—Problemy Gosudarstva,” Kazakhstanskaia Pravda, 27 May 1998, p. 1.

Nurbulat Masanov, “Perceptions of Ethnic and All‐National Identity in Kazakhstan,” in The Nationalities Question in Post‐Soviet Kazakhstan (Chiba: Institute of Developing Economies, 2002), p. 56.

Ibid.

Ian Bremmer and Cory Welt, “Kazakhstan's Quandary,” Journal of Democracy, Vol. 6, No. 3, 1995, p. 144.

Taras Kuzio, “History, Memory and Nation Building in the Post‐Soviet Colonial Space,” Nationalities Papers, Vol. 30, No. 2, 2002, pp. 241–264.

Henry R. Huttenbach, “Whither Kazakhstan? Changing Capitals: From Almaty to Aqmola/Astana,” Nationalities Papers, Vol. 26, No. 3, 1998, p. 584.

Richard L. Wolfel, “North to Astana: Nationalistic Motives for the Movement of the Kazakh(stani) Capital,” Nationalities Papers, Vol. 30, No. 3, 2002, p. 502.

Robert Kaiser and Jeff Chinn, “Russian–Kazakh Relations in Kazakhstan,” Post‐Soviet Geography, Vol. 36, No. 5, 1996, p. 267.

For example, Lad and Russian Community have fought for years, without success, for the creation of a Russian University in Kazakhstan similar to the Slavic University in Kyrgyzstan. Personal interviews with Iurii Zakharovich Bunakov, Chairman of Russian Community, Almaty, 23 May 2000, and Mikhailov Viktor Petrovich, Chairman of Lad, Astana, 14 April 2000.

I hired BRIF, a social and market research agency in Almaty, to conduct a public opinion survey of 200 Russian residents of Ust'‐Kamenogorsk in December 2000. BRIF conducted face‐to‐face interviews with respondents who comprised a sample that corresponded in gender and age to the demographic parameters of the Ust'‐Kamenogorsk population, according to the 1999 census.

“Bunt Pugachevu ne Udalsia,” Na Strazhe, 25 November 1999, p. 1.

Personal interview, Sergei Suprun Mikhailovich, 19 July 2000.

Personal interview, Aleksandr Shushanikov Pavlovich, 19 July 2000.

A. Shushanikov, “Ust'‐Kamenogorskoe Delo,” Lad, No. 5, 2000, p. 12.

No details of this survey were provided in the newspaper article that discusses various interpretations of the Pugachev incident. Ina “Politon,” “Kommentarii k Sobytiiam v Ust'‐Kamenogorske,” Nashe Delo, 6 January 2000, p. 2.

Personal interview, 19 July 2000.

Personal interview, 17 July 2000.

Personal interview, 19 July 2000.

Ibid.

Valentina Dudkova, “Razboinik Byl v BKO eshche Poltora Goda Nazad,” Ekspress K, 30 November 1999, p. 2; Nikolai Ivanov, “Nikoai Ivanov: Pugachev—Eto Stoprotsentnyi Provokator,” Ustinka, 3 December 1999, p. 4.

Tat'iana Bendz', “Perevorot—Khronika Ust'‐Kamenogorskova Dela,” Ekspress K, 8 December 1999, p. 3.

Valentina Dudkova, “Razboinik Byl v BKO eshche Poltora Goda Nazad,” Ekspress K, 30 November 1999, p. 2.

Personal interview, 19 July 2000.

Personal interview, 17 July 2000.

“Sud Strogo Nakazal Uchastnikov Neudachnogo Zagovora,” Panorama, No. 24, 2000, p. 5.

Personal interview, 19 July 2000.

Personal interview, 17 July 2000.

Personal interview, 19 July 2000.

Personal interview, 17 July 2000.

Personal interview, 19 July 2000.

A. Shushanikov, “Ust'‐Kamenogorskoe Delo,” Lad, No. 5, 2000, p. 12.

This referendum highlighted the difference in Kazakh and Russian views on secession: while Kazakh deputies voted unanimously against secession, Slav deputies who were willing to make their view public voted in favor of secession. Ian Bremmer, “Nazarbaev and the North: State‐Building and Ethnic Relations in Kazakhstan,” Ethnic and Racial Studies, Vol. 17, No. 4, 1994, p. 626.