Political Scientist Comments On Russian Minister’s Remarks

Political scientist Gaziz Abishev has commented on Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s recent interview, in which Lavrov voiced his disagreement with President Qasym-Jomart Toqayev's stance on territorial integrity, Orda.kz reports.​

In an interview with Russia's Kommersant, Lavrov commented on Toqayev's 2022 statement at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.

At that event, Toqayev stated:

It is estimated that if the right of nations to determine themselves were to be realized, then instead of the 193 states now in the UN, there would be more than 500 or 600 states on Earth. Of course, this would be chaos.

Lavrov said territorial integrity is upheld only when governments represent all peoples within their borders.​

Political scientist Gaziz Abishev notes that this is very flexible rhetoric from the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry, allowing for a highly subjective interpretation of which government “represents all the people” and which does not.

We find a territory that we believe isn’t represented at the central level, declare that its government doesn’t represent it, and therefore refuse to recognize the country’s territorial integrity there. Then we recognize the territory’s right to self-determination, depending on the situation. This, of course, opens Pandora’s box and throws international law and global relations into chaos. Exactly what President Toqayev warned about,Gaziz Abishev explained. 

The expert points out that in the 1990s, Kazakhstan consistently upheld the principle of territorial integrity for all its partner countries, including Russia, when Chechnya attempted to break away.

Even though the leaders of the unrecognized republic repeatedly claimed they were leading a sovereign Ichkeria exercising its right to self-determination, Kazakhstan never accepted that reasoning and always recognized Chechnya as part of Russia,said Gaziz Abishev. 

He further suggested that Lavrov's statements are situational and could shift with Russia's political interests.

It’s obvious that what Lavrov is really saying is, ‘we’ll interpret it however we like.’ And the moment the situation changes and no longer calls for this kind of rhetoric, Russian diplomats will come back and tell us we misunderstood everything — that the Russian Federation has always supported a strict reading of ‘territorial integrity.’ Especially if, somewhere down the line, the international community ends up recognizing Russia’s territorial expansion,”  Abishev said. 

Kazakhstan remains committed to its long-standing stance: upholding international law and the unquestionable territorial integrity of all recognized states.

Original Author: Nikita Drobny