In Cooperation with Kazakhstan, Russia to Open Kazakh-Language Schools in Astrakhan, Orenburg and Tomsk Oblasts

Paul Goble
    Staunton, Nov. 27 – At a time when Moscow is closing schools where instruction is in the non-Russian languages of the peoples of the Russian Federation, the governments of the Russian Federation and Kazakhstan have agreed to open Kazakh-language schools in three Russian oblasts – Astrakhan, Orenburg, and Tomsk – where there are sizeable Kazakh populations.
    In exchange, the two have agreed to the opening of new Russian-language schools in the southern regions of Kazakhstan, an area that is overwhelmingly Kazakh but at least in urban areas also overwhelmingly Russian speaking (eurasiatoday.ru/kazahskie-shkoly-v-rossii-novaya-initsiativa-ukreplyaet-kulturnye-svyazi/).
    The most significant impact of this plan is likely to be in Orenburg, the one-time capital of Kazakhstan, the land bridge between that country and the Turkic and Finno-Ugric republics and a place where the ethnic balance is shifting against the Russians (windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2024/09/orenburg-corridor-arose-because-kazakhs.html, windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2024/03/tatars-stress-turkic-and-muslim.html, jamestown.org/program/the-orenburg-corridor-and-the-future-of-the-middle-volga/, windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2023/02/tatars-and-bashkirs-must-recover.html and windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2023/02/representatives-of-middle-volga-nations.html).
    But there is another possible consequence of this plan that cannot be ignored, although it is less likely in the short term; and that is this: Other countries bordering the Russian Federation which have significant diasporas inside the current borders of that country could seek a similar arrangement, moves that would help to promote the survival of non-Russian peoples there.