Attempts to recruit Kazakhs to fight with Russia.. Astana warns

Kazakhstan announced the disclosure of an online effort to recruit its citizens to fight alongside Russian forces in Ukraine.

The warning, issued by regional officials late Thursday, comes against the backdrop of local media reports that two Kazakh citizens were killed in Ukraine.

The Russian army and the Wagner Military Group, which recently led a rebellion in Russia, targeted citizens of the former Soviet region to urge them to join their ranks.

The Public Prosecution Office in the Kostnay region, bordering Russia, warned It includes a large Russian minority, the population From “surrendering” to attempts on social media to recruit people to fight with Russia.

This region is home to about 880,000 people, about 41 percent of whom are ethnic Russians, according to government data.

A statement from the region’s public prosecutor’s office said: “There were attempts on the territory of our region to recruit residents to go to the territory of the Russian Federation to participate in the armed conflict in Ukraine.”

Local prosecutors also reported seeing “separatist calls regarding our country’s territorial integrity” on social media.

“In order to ensure public security, protect the rights and freedoms of citizens, and prevent destabilization of the social and political situation, we urge you not to give in to this kind of inflammatory statements and calls issued in the media and social networks,” their statement read.

It warned that participating in armed conflicts abroad and making calls for separatism, including through social media, is against the law and punishable by up to ten years in prison.

And she continued, “We call on citizens, the media and social media users to refrain from any of these violations.”