The integration of Russia and Kazakhstan is in both countries’ political and economic interests.

Relations between Russia and Kazakhstan are shaped by history and geography. Both countries are among the world’s 10 largest in terms of area. The two countries share a border stretching more than 6,000 km, one of the longest borders in the world. Russia and Kazakhstan are both rich in natural resources such as oil, gas and metals. Although many Russian speakers left the republic during the 1990s, the country still has one of the largest Russian communities outside Russia, comprising up to a third of the country’s population.

This explains why, when he began drawing up newly independent Kazakhstan’s foreign policy strategy in 1992, President Nursultan Nazarbayev said that "as a result of geographical, political, ethnic and other historical factors, relations with Russia is the most important issue for us."

Russian-Kazakh relations developed intensively and largely without incident throughout the 1990s. True, the standing of the Russian-speaking population in Kazakhstan did give cause to some friction and concern. Both Russia and Kazakhstan, however, participate in all integration organizations set up after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The Eurasian Economic Community, for example, was an initiative proposed by Nazarbayev.

Integration with Russia is in Kazakhstan’s interests. Kazakhstan has no access to the sea and is not located on world transport corridors. The country has large oil and gas reserves but does not have a developed pipeline system. In this respect, Russia, due to its favorable geographical location, has much to offer Kazakhstan. Russia can transport Kazakhstan’s energy resources to world markets, for example, approximately a third of the oil Kazakhstan produces crosses Russian territory to reach export markets.

The Single Economic Space agreements signed in 2003 by Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine and Belarus call for the removal of all customs and trade barriers, and this will benefit both Russia and Kazakhstan as the two countries have many trade ties. Russia is a traditional buyer of Kazakh grain. Some 300 large joint Russian-Kazakh companies operate in Kazakhstan and there are more than 1,000 small joint ventures. Trade turnover between the two countries came to $5.5 billion last year and is set to increase. The presidents of both countries pledged to double trade turnover at the opening events for the Year of Russia in Kazakhstan in January.

The two countries’ economic systems have a lot of similarities. There is only a small difference in respective per capita GDP. Both countries face the same problem of having to modernize industrial facilities and equipment. Both countries’ export sectors are dominated by raw materials, a situation encouraged by high world oil and metals prices and the exchange rate for the national currency against the U.S. dollar. Economic integration is therefore a realistic and mutually beneficial project for the two countries.

Russia can also help strengthen Kazakhstan’s intellectual potential. Despite problems it faces, the Russian education system still provides a high level of quality. Thousands of Kazakh students study in Russian universities. Some bilateral agreements even give Kazakh students the chance to get a free tertiary education in Russia, something they would not be able to do in their homeland. Diplomas from Moscow and

St. Petersburg universities are just as highly valued in Kazakhstan as diplomas from Western universities, and in any case, very few Kazakhs can afford to study in the West.

The number of Russian newspapers and magazines available in Kazakhstan has dropped since independence, but readers’ preferences remain largely unchanged. According to Kazakhstan’s Kazinform Agency, there are more than 4,000 Russsian newspapers and magazines in the country today. The most popular Russian publications in Kazakhstan include Zdorovy Obraz Zhizni, Argumenty i Fakty, Za rulyom, Izvestia, and Komsomolka. Russian TV programs, TV series and talk shows are all popular in Kazakhstan, as are Russian music radio stations.

But there are also serious obstacles on the road to integration, many of which come from outside. Certain political circles in the West opposed to integration in the former Soviet area are not happy with Russia’s and Kazakhstan’s moves to draw closer together over the last couple of years, and political pressure on the Kazakh leadership has increased noticeably.

George Bush sharply criticized the situation in Kazakhstan when meeting with Nazarbayev in 2001. A year later, official U.S. State Department representative Phil Ryker and a group of U.S. congressmen accused Nazarbayev of putting all his relatives in top jobs in the country and channeling the money from oil and gas sales into the "Future Generations Fund" that he controls. From time to time, the European Parliament raises the issue of human rights violations and persecution of dissent in Kazakhstan.

Opposition electronic media in Kazakhstan, sponsored by money from abroad, put plenty of effort into exposing what they call Nazarbayev’s "criminal regime," and seek a closer alignment with the United States as a counterweight to Russia.

But these attacks pose little threat to the ruling elite in Kazakhstan. A union with Russia is the guarantee of stability in Kazakhstan and most of the republic’s population supports closer relations with its northern neighbor. According to a survey in Kazakhstan carried out by the Komkon-2 Eurasia Agency last April, 84 percent of respondents said they think Kazakhstan should seek union with Russia, 3.6 percent favor an alliance with the United States, 2 percent support a union with China, 0.4 percent want a union with Ukraine and 0.4 percent do not want a union with any country. Most Kazakhstan residents do not support the idea of union with their Central Asian neighbors.

Overall, there is a lot in favor of building a solid strategic partnership between Russia and Kazakhstan. The two countries are the largest of the former Soviet republics and have long-standing historical, political and economic ties. Integration would bring numerous benefits to the peoples of both countries. Further successful integration depends, however, on the actions and approach taken by the Russian and Kazakh leadership.

Situated in the center of the Eurasian continent, the territory of Kazakhstan stretches for 3,000 kilometers from east to west and 1,700 kilometers from north to south. The perimeter of its boundaries is 15,000 kilometers, of which 3.000 kilometers include water boundaries of the Caspian and Aral seas. Having a total area of 2,717.3 thousand square kilometers, or about 2% of the earth surface, the country’s population is a mere 14.8 million people.

It borders with Russia to the north, and Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan to the southwest as well as China to the east. Kazakhstan also shares water boundaries with Azerbaijan and Iran.

President Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan put forward an idea of creating a Eurasian Union with the aim of coordinating economic policies and adopting common programs.

"We should look at the idea of EAU not only from the political point of view but should be representative of our people."