Tag: Kazakhstan

Russian governor warns of ‘very difficult’ plight as floods rise

PETROPAVL, Kazakhstan, April 14, 2024 (AFP) – Floodwaters in southern Russia on Sunday threatened to submerge thousands more homes in the Kurgan region, where the governor predicted a “very difficult situation” in the coming hours. There is widespread flooding in the Russian Urals regions and neighbouring Kazakhstan, caused by melting ice swelling rivers, exacerbated by heavy rainfall. In some places, only the roofs of houses are visible above murky waters that have engulfed entire neighbourhoods. […]

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Thousands flee flooding in Russian Urals region of Orenburg

ORENBURG, Russia, April 13, 2024 (AFP) – Russian emergency services on Saturday said they had evacuated thousands of people from the Orenburg region in the south of the Urals as flood water continued to rise. Fast-rising temperatures have melted snow and ice, and along with heavy rain have caused a number of major rivers that cross Russia and Kazakhstan to overflow this month. In the city of Orenburg, one of the worst affected areas in […]

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Kremlin warns floods may worsen as Kazakhstan, Russia evacuate 100,000

Water levels on rivers in Russia and Kazakhstan continued to rise and flood whole villages and cities on Wednesday, with more than 100,000 people evacuated and the Kremlin warning a “very, very tense” situation was expected to worsen. Fast-melting snow and ice has caused rivers in Russia’s southern Urals, western Siberia as well as northern Kazakhstan to reach unprecedented heights, threatening major cities. Moscow and Astana have been battling the rising rivers for more than […]

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Kazakhstan and Russia battle huge floods

ASTANA, Kazakhstan, April 9, 2024 (AFP) – Water levels in overflowing rivers were still rising on Tuesday in swathes of Russia and Kazakhstan that have been hit by massive floods, as cities braced for a new peak in the southern Urals and western Siberia. Both Astana and Moscow have called the floods the worst in decades, introducing a state of emergency as water covered entire cities and villages. More than 90,000 people have been evacuated […]

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Launch of Russian spacecraft aborted moments before liftoff

  MOSCOW, March 21, 2024 (AFP) – The launch of a Russian spacecraft to the International Space Station was aborted at the last minute on Thursday, in another high-profile setback for Russia’s space programme. The Russian Soyuz MS-25 mission was due to take off from the Baikonur space port in Kazakhstan on Thursday, carrying three astronauts from Russia, the United States and Belarus. But the launch was cancelled just seconds before scheduled blast-off at 4:21 […]

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Kazakhstan mourns for 42 dead in ArcelorMittal mine disaster

KARAGANDA, Kazakhstan, Oct 29, 2023 (AFP) – Kazakhstan held nationwide mourning on Sunday after 42 people died in a blaze at an ArcelorMittal mine, the worst accident in the Central Asian country’s post-Soviet history. The tragedy, which struck at the Kostenko coal mine in the Karaganda region Saturday, came after a series of deadly incidents at ArcelorMittal mines and has prompted the nationalisation of the company’s local affiliate. “As of 3 pm (0900 GMT) the […]

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McDonald’s suspends operations in Kazakhstan

ALMATY, Kazakhstan (AFP) – McDonald’s announced Thursday it was suspending operations in Kazakhstan due to supply problems as the Central Asian state gears up for an early election this weekend. A relative of the first Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev, Kairat Boranbayev, runs a McDonald’s franchise in Kazakhstan. On Sunday, the country will hold a snap presidential vote expected to cement incumbent Kassym-Jomart Tokayev’s grip on power, months after deadly unrest shook the nation and left more than […]

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Moscow says will not seek extradition of Russians fleeing draft

  Moscow, Russia (AFP) Moscow said Tuesday it will not request the extradition of Russians travelling abroad to avoid being called-up to fight in Ukraine, after thousands of military-aged men crossed into neighbouring countries. “The Russian ministry of defence has not sent any request to the authorities of Kazakhstan, Georgia, or any other country for the alleged forced return to Russian soil of Russian citizens, and it is not planning to do so,” the ministry […]

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Novartis says two children treated with gene therapy died

Zurich, Switzerland | AFP | Two children who received Zolgensma, a gene therapy produced by Swiss drugmaker Novartis to treat spinal muscular atrophy, have died from liver failure, the company said Friday. Health authorities in Russia and Kazakhstan, where the deaths occurred, have been notified along with those in all countries where the treatment is used, Novartis said in an e-mailed statement. The children died five to six weeks after receiving infusions of Zolgensma and […]

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More than 160 reported dead in Kazakhstan unrest

  by Christopher RICKLETON Agence France Presse ALMATY, KAZAKHSTAN (AFP) — More than 160 people were reported Sunday to have died in several days of unrest in Kazakhstan and almost 6,000 have been arrested after riots in Central Asia’s largest country. The energy-rich nation of 19 million people has been rocked by a week of upheaval, with a number of foreigners detained over the unrest. A government-run information portal on Sunday said that 164 people […]

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More than 5,000 arrested since riots in Kazakhstan erupted a week ago

More than 5,000 people have been arrested in Kazakhstan over the riots that have shaken Central Asia’s largest country in the last week, Kazakh authorities were quoted as saying Sunday. In total, 5,135 people have been detained for questioning as part of 125 separate investigations into the unrest, according to the interior ministry quoted by local media. The energy-rich country of around 19 million people has been rocked by a week of riots with dozens […]

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‘Old man out!’: Anger in Kazakhstan focuses on ex-leader

by Christopher RICKLETON As protesters armed with sticks and discarded police shields prepared to storm the mayor’s office in Kazakhstan’s largest city Almaty, they marched to chants of “old man out!” They were not referring to President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, 68, but Nursultan Nazarbayev, the octogenarian who after more than a quarter-century in office picked career diplomat Tokayev as his loyalist successor in 2019. Since Kazakhstan’s independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, Nazarbayev has been […]

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