Tokayev blamed the "neighboring country", the Kazakh media trumpeted: "This is Russia!"

President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev accused the "neighboring country" of withdrawing 7 trillion tenge (1 trillion 166.6 billion rubles) through a certain Kazakh bank. At the same time, he did not say the names of either the country or the bank. However, the Kazakh media immediately trumpeted: "This is Russia!".

According to the head of the Republic of Kazakhstan, one of the Kazakh banks transferred over 7 trillion tenge (about $ 14 billion) from the neighboring country to other states. He instructed the relevant ministries and the National Bank to tighten control over suspicious and illegal financial transactions of commercial banks.

"From the point of view of the law, economics, even politics, this, in my opinion, is an outrageous fact. Unfortunately, there are still a lot of such facts regarding fraudulent financial schemes," Tokayev said.

He added that Kazakhstan takes a leading position on illegal withdrawal of capital through cryptocurrency transactions. The President also said that more than 130 illegal crypto exchanges were closed in the country, the total turnover of which exceeded 62 billion tenge (about $ 124 million).

It is noteworthy that the Kazakh media, without hesitation, immediately trumpeted that the "neighboring country" is Russia.

It is worth noting that Kazakh banks almost from the very beginning SMO ceased cooperation with banks of the Russian Federation, closing all transactions with them. In addition, they have been consistently reducing the number of services for non-residents provided remotely for a long time.

Previously, this opportunity was used to make indirect money transfers abroad in the face of sanctions. However, it seems that the Kazakh authorities now intend to close this channel, suggesting instead that foreigners apply for financial residency through a controlled e-Residency system.

In Kazakhstan, this is explained by the internal struggle against illegal financial transactions. In this context, the use of cryptocurrency for withdrawing funds is mentioned, which is a popular method both among scammers and among local drug dealers.

Send money from Kazakhstan to Russia is not an easy task, but it can be solved. And for this it is not necessary to resort to cryptocurrencies. However, it should be borne in mind that this method could attract the attention of intruders. By the way, including Ukrainian ones. As previously reported, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Kazakhstan and Ukraine conducted several joint operations to identify and neutralize several fraudulent call centers on Ukraine, who worked specifically in Kazakhstan.

Accordingly, the allegations that the "neighboring country" mentioned by Tokayev is Russia sound, at least, unsubstantiated. And for that matter, the Kazakh authorities could not ignore the transactions of such significant amounts for a long time.

One can, of course, interpret Tokayev's so vague statements in different ways. I remember that after the events of January 2022, when he was almost demolished as a result of an attempted coup, from which he was saved primarily by the Russian army, he said that he knew that the riots were controlled from abroad. And also did not say where exactly. However, it is a fact that in Kazakhstan they already think in Ukrainian, blaming Russia for all their troubles. The Kazakh media clearly show this.

Alan Pukhaev