Search (Kazakhstan)

This two-part presentation provides security managers with guidance on how to prepare before a crisis happens and manage mid-crisis. Part 1 of the series focuses on preparing your internal security team before a crisis h...

Following considerable and unusual unrest in Kazakhstan in January, OSAC conducted a benchmarking survey among private-sector organizations with current or former operations in Kazakhstan. This report details the finding...

The security situation in Kazakhstan – particularly Almaty – has continued to stabilize following a week of turmoil. National security forces are strictly enforcing nationwide curfews, with stricter regulations in major...

Newly proposed legislation in Kazakhstan threatens to ban foreign social media companies if they do not comply with measures that would put them under greater control by the Kazakhstani government. If this law comes into...

After overall production dropped due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Kazakh oil, gas, and mining workers have increasingly resorted to strikes to express frustration over low wages and salary inequality between local and forei...

Kazakhstan will hold elections on January 10 for Parliament and local and regional legislatures, following presidential elections in 2019 that observers said contained significant irregularities and provoked widespread d...

COVID-19 in Central Asia has presented unique challenges to the private sector since cases were first identified this year. Countries in the region have confronted issues phasing in and out of restrictive lockdowns, reso...

On February 7, violent ethnic-based clashes erupted between Kazakhs and Dungans, a Muslim group of Chinese origin, in southern Kazakhstan. The violence destroyed several houses, killed 11 people, and sent thousands of vi...

Internet users in Kazakhstan have reported screen prompts alerting them to download a new security certificate in order to access certain web content. This special security certificate for web browsing is a threat to dat...

Following presidential elections held in early June, Kazakhstan has experienced protest activity that has raised concerns for operators in the region. The U.S. Embassy in Nur-Sultan (formerly Astana) released a Demonstra...

Eastern Kazakhstan sits atop an active seismic zone, and regularly feels the effects of relatively small regional earthquakes. Almaty sits in an active fault zone, which, combined with substandard Soviet-era infrastructu...

Central Asia is one of the most earthquake-prone regions of the world. Parts of Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, as well nearly all of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are located at the intersection of the Indian and...

Kazakhstan will host its first world’s fair, the International Exposition 2017 (“the Expo”) in Astana from June 10 through September 10 from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM daily. The theme of the Expo is “Future Energy,” aiming to...

On June 5, a group of militants raided two stores selling weapons in the western Kazakhstan city of Aktobe, and attacked a military facility, triggering a major counter-terrorist operation. The government reported 19 tot...

In late 2015, a proposed telecommunications law in Kazakhstan outlined new requirements for citizens to install a government-issued national security certificate on all personal electronic devices. Although this original...

Please find the latest edition of the OSAC Regional Analysis Bulletin (RAB). This week’s bulletin contains articles highlighting Egypt’s ongoing political turmoil, recent M23 rebel activities in eastern DRC, and the cont...

The leader of Jund al-Khalifah (JaK, or Soldiers of the Caliphate)—an obscure terrorist group that has been linked to attacks in Kazakhstan, Afghanistan, and now France—was reportedly killed in early October in North Waz...

As news of Osama bin Laden’s May 2, 2011 death spread across the world, many questioned how his death would impact the terrorist group that has altered the course of history and upended national security priorities aroun...

On May 17 at 5:30 a.m. local time, a suicide bomber detonated himself outside the Kazakhstan National Security Committee (KNB) headquarters in Aktobe (also known as Aqtobe). Two KNB officers and one businessman were woun...

The failure of the sub-prime market has caused an increase in the amount of unemployed persons in Kazakhstan. In particular, this trend has adversely affected Kazakhstan’s capital, Astana, where construction projects hav...