The Real Russia. Today. Nazarbayev ‘resigns,’ migrant workers stay home in Yakutsk amid protests, and journalists sneak a peek at Russia Today's NDAs

Tuesday, March 19, 2019

This day in history: 63 years ago, on March 19, 1956, Yegor Gaidar was born in Moscow. The architect of the controversial “shock therapy” reforms administered in Russia after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Gaidar still inspires praise and criticism to this day. He died in 2009 at the age of 53 from a pulmonary edema.

• After three decades, Nazarbayev is quitting Kazakhstan’s presidency, but the ‘national leader’ will retain enormous influence
• Follow Kazakhstan's outgoing president in photos from the Soviet Communist Party Congress to his handshake with Donald Trump
• Following protests against migrant workers in Yakutsk, dozens of bus drivers stay home from work and kiosk vendors are told to shut down for their own safety
• ‘Russia Today’ staff face 5-million-ruble penalties if they criticize the network on social media

The pseudo-resignation 👋

On March 19, Nursultan Nazarbayev addressed the nation of Kazakhstan and announced that he is stepping down as president — a title he’s held since 1990. “As the founder of the independent Kazakhstani state, I see my future task as ensuring that a new generation comes to power that will continue the country’s ongoing transformation,” Nazarbayev said.

The new head of state is Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, the speaker of the Senate and a professional diplomat who headed the Foreign Ministry from 1994 to 1999 and again from 2002 to 2007, before serving as U.N. deputy secretary general from 2011 to 2013. According to Kazakhstan’s Constitution, Tokayev will take over Nazarbayev’s current term, serving until the next scheduled elections in the spring of 2020. The only formal limit Tokayev faces on his normal presidential powers is that he cannot initiate constitutional amendments before he is elected.

In practice, Tokayev’s authority will be restricted by the constant need to consult his predecessor. It’s now clear that Kazakhstan’s recent constitutional reforms were designed to facilitate Nazarbayev’s early resignation without robbing him of political influence. In 2017, Nazarbayev significantly reduced the president’s powers, making the government responsible to the parliament. This new arrangement, however, was drafted to take effect only when the next president entered office.

When announcing his resignation as president, Nazarbayev didn’t hide the fact that he will retain enormous influence on the country’s political life. “By our laws, I have been granted the status of first president, elbasy [national leader],” he reminded everyone. Nazarbayev will also remain the chairman of Nur Otan, Kazakhstan’s ruling political party, which enjoys an overwhelming majority in parliament. Thanks to constitutional reforms, moreover, the legislature’s role will soon grow.

Nazarbayev also keeps his lifetime seat as head of Kazakhstan’s Security Council, and he stays a member of the Constitutional Council, which operates as a constitutional court, resolving conflicts between branches of the government, and effectively enjoys the right to veto any law.

What does 30 years in power look like? Check out Meduza's collection of photos following Nazarbayev from the Soviet Communist Party Congress to his handshake with Donald Trump.

Nazarbayev’s resignation sets a precedent

In 1986, Kazakhstan witnessed its first major nationalist unrest of the Perestroika years. The protests started when Moscow violated an unspoken tradition by appointing an ethnic Russian to serve as the first secretary of the republic’s Communist Party. Three years later, the job went to an ethnic Kazakh man — a successful functionary of the USSR’s Communist Party named Nursultan Nazarbayev. In 1990, running unopposed, he was elected president of the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic.

In the final months of the USSR’s existence, Nazarbayev was considered a potential candidate to head the union government. When the country collapsed, he was one of the old party leaders who established personal rule in a former Soviet republic.

Early in his rule, Nazarbayev consolidated power and dissolved the opposition-controlled parliament, replacing it with a significantly defanged substitute. Since the early 2000s, the opposition has barely been allowed to compete in parliamentary elections. Western observers say Kazakhstan’s elections fail to meet democratic standards. Nazarbayev extended his presidency multiple times, before eventually abolishing term limits outright. Critics have repeatedly accused Nazarbayev of suppressing political dissent.

In his announcement on Tuesday, Nazarbayev argued that “it’s impossible to build democratic institutions with a weak economy and a citizenry in poverty,” which is why he says he’s prioritized “economic development and improving public welfare.” The outgoing president claimed that Kazakhstan’s authorities have managed to raise the country’s economic output by 15 times and citizens’ incomes nine-fold, reducing poverty almost ten-fold. Nazarbayev also credited his administration with transitioning Kazakhstan from an agrarian economy to an industrial-service-based economy.

Even though it isn’t a full-fledged departure from power, Nazarbayev’s voluntary resignation sets an important precedent. Other post-Soviet authoritarian leaders have remained in office either until they die, like Saparmurat Niyazov in Turkmenistan or Islam Karimov in Uzbekistan, or until they’re forced from power into exile by mass protests, like Askar Akayev in Kyrgyzstan. In Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev effectively inherited power from his father, Heydar Aliyev. Nazarbayev is experimenting with an alternative approach to transitions of power.

Afraid time off 🚍

In Yakutsk, where protests against migrant workers have continued for the past two days, between 80 and 90 buses didn’t run their routes on March 19. According to Andrey Sharygin, the director of Yakutsk's Unified Dispatch Service, most of the drivers are foreigners.

“With just 420–430 buses in total, this hits us pretty hard. Right now, we’re trying to figure out what happened. The drivers are reporting technical issues, and some say they fear for their safety,” Sharygin told the website SakhaDay, adding that crew foremen and route directors are covering for many missing drivers.

Sergey Maximov, the head of the public utility “Yakut Passenger Trucking Company,” confirmed to Ykt.ru that roughly 80 buses missed their routes on the morning of March 19. By midday, he says, about 40 lines were still out of service. “I emphasize that this is happening only with commercial public transportation. All our shuttle vans are on schedule,” Maximov told the news agency Interfax, adding that some drivers stayed home on Tuesday because they “fear reprisals.”

Official officials are circulating other reports, however. According to a statement by the “SoyuzAvto” group (which represents local transport operators), the longer intervals between bus service are due to technical issues. SoyuzAvto says Central Asian immigrants comprise roughly 65 percent of the bus drivers in Yakutsk. On Monday, the organization revealed that seven men attacked one of these drivers at the final stop of his route. Eyewitnesses told Interfax that police officers are now standing guard at bus-route terminals throughout the city. Journalists have also reported the installation of surveillance cameras near the city mosque.

According to reports by SakhaDay and Interfax, many fruit and vegetable stands throughout Yakutsk were also closed on March 19. Before dawn, at least one of these kiosks was ransacked. The store’s owners told reporters that police advised them to shut down their business indefinitely.

“Thugs smashed the fruit stands, and then [the vendors] were ‘asked’ to close shop and get out. We think [the vendors] will wait it out and get back to work later,” representatives of the Kyrgyz diaspora in Yakutsk told SakhaDay, saying they’re also aware of several other attacks against migrant shop workers. A day earlier, local media outlets reported that Yakutsk residents have started threatening the migrant workers who sell shawarma and vegetables in town.

A source close to Yakutsk's leadership told the magazine RBC that all migrant workers who skipped work on March 19 have “big problems with their work permits,” explaining that these individuals are hurrying to register all the necessary health and migration forms, before city officials launch the mass inspections promised by Governor Aisen Nikolaev.

Loose lips sink wallets 🤐

The autonomous nonprofit organization “TV-Novosti,” which technically owns the Russia Today television network, reportedly requires staff to sign strict non-disclosure agreements that prohibit reporters, camera operators, and other employees from discussing anything happening at RT with outsiders or criticizing the network in interviews or on social media. According to documents obtained by the website Znak.com, these NDAs remain in force not only while staff are employed at RT, but also for 20 years afterwards. Offenders can be forced to pay RT five million rubles (more than $77,670) in compensation. The agreements bear the signature of TV-Novosti CEO Alexey Nikolov.

The non-disclosure agreements describe confidential information as anything pertaining to TV-Novosti in terms of “production, technical aspects, finances, managerial hierarchy, or otherwise.” This applies to the organization’s internal structure, performance indicators, how the organization and staff operate, and its work style and methods, including any information learned at workshops or about partners. Staff are also prohibited from divulging information about their own NDAs.

“Deliberate or unintentional (careless) actions by [Russia Today] staff that lead to the disclosure of confidential information to even one [third] party” are considered a violation of employees’ contracts. It doesn’t matter if the information leaks in writing or otherwise, but the contracts do identify the following disclosure methods: interviews, public speeches, public correspondence, electronic correspondence, blog posts, and even private conversations.

RT staff are also required to inform TV-Novosti’s security service, if an outsider is trying to get them to disclose confidential information. Offenders are informed that violations can lead to “criminal, administrative, civil, or disciplinary responsibility,” the NDAs explain. Staff cannot refuse to sign these agreements.

RT did not respond to a request from Znak.com to comment on the leaked contract language, but the television network Dozhd has independently confirmed through sources at RT that Znak.com’s report is accurate.

• In June 2017, reporters at The Moscow Times credited RT's non-disclosure agreements and non-disparagement agreements with creating an atmosphere of “fear and paranoia” when it comes to discussing the network outside of work.