Three months have passed since the start of the January tragedy, however, it is still a mystery where the twenty thousand foreign fighters serving as the reason to invite the CSTO troops to Kazakhstan came from and went.

Moreover, even the top-officials of the domestic law-enforcement structures as well as the pro-government media and Internet-resources no longer mention Kassym-Jomart Tokayev’s tale. Even though, according to the logic of the existing domestic policy, they must support the head of the state in every way, even in his mistakes. 

As a result, the following questions remain unanswered - 

- who is responsible for the Kazakh citizens taking massively to the streets,

- why the peaceful protests turned into an open and oftentimes armed conflict with the siloviks,

- why the siloviks started shooting the protesters and then everyone they thought suspicious,

- why so many people were involved in the attacks against the governmental buildings and in the looting of retail outlets, food and drink venues and services.

Of course, partly, the January events have receded into the background due to the Ukrainian tragedy whose victim count has already surpassed the Kazakh tragedy by hundreds of times. As for the economic damage done to the country, the Ukrainian tragedy surpasses the Kazakh tragedy by thousands times.

Apart from that, the anti-Russian sanctions have handicapped good deliveries from beyond the Kazakh borders – not only from the West but from Russia. Therefore, the prices have gone up. As a result, the number of the citizens on the edge of subsistence and (or) those who have lost the confidence in the future has grown. They do not have the time to reflect on the causes of the January tragedy, they are thinking of how to survive today and tomorrow.

Nonetheless, there can be no doubt that, in time, the topic of the January protest “explosion” will become the focus of the public attention again. And Kassym-Jomart Tokayev will be named as one of the main guilty parties.

What makes us so certain of that? The fact that the Kazakhs’ distrust in the state that had been culminating during the past years and that, up until now, had been passive and silent, turned into shifting the responsibility on the government (and only on the government) right before our eyes. Consequently to this, people are now demanding that the state solves all their problems including those that are not the state’s fault or that the state is not supposed to solve.

In other words, the era when all the successes were attributed to the First President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev while all the failures were blamed on individual high officials, has been replaced with another. Now the current President of Kazakhstan and his successors are to be blamed for all defeats and failures. 

This layout is not going to change any time soon. Only when the Kazakhs stop being “subjects” and become citizens who not only know their rights but also respect the rights of others and understand that they have responsibilities before the country and society (not only before their nearest and dearest).

On the other hand, even if the tragedy of January 2022 does become a part of the agenda, we are still not going to get a full picture of the events. But leaks, of course, will happen.

Moreover, they are already happening. For instance, from a staff member of the National Guard of the Republic of Kazakhstan, we have learned where Nursultan Nazarbayev, his close relatives and henchmen were hiding during the events and how they were carrying on.

Everyone knows that, at this crucial time, Nazarbayev chose to keep silent instead of making a public address to the Kazakhs and suggesting ways to resolve the conflict. As for his close relatives, they either hid behind the back of their security guards or quickly fled the country (mostly, in the direction of the United Arab Emirates). On the other hand, according to our insiders, there had been some mishaps.

For example, they have told us about the “leader of the nation’s” eldest daughter’s forgetfulness. 

Allegedly,  when the January tragedy began, Dariga Nazarbayeva was celebrating the New Year so vigorously that, when they convinced her to leave Almaty and move to a safer place, she forgot to collect her mother, Sara Nazarbayeva, from the residence in the Navoi street.

And when they thought of Nazarbyev’s wife eventually, the city was already too disquiet which caused serious problems with her escape. The National Guard had to send four cars escorted by an armoured fighting vehicle to pick up Sara Nazarbayeva. This was the only way to ensure the safety of the former First Lady.  

However, by the time the motor convoy had arrived at the Almaty airport, it was abandoned by the security service and seized by the protestors. As a result, the armoured vehicle had to pierce a hole in the fence near the South Gate checkpoint.

Other Nazarbayev’s relatives and allies carried on just as badly.

For instance, Nazarbayev’s nephew Akhmetzhan Esimov together with Akim of Almaty Bakytzhan Sagintayev and other public figures were hiding at the Shymbulak resort guarded by a special purpose unit that was blocking the road through the high-mountain barrage near Medeu.

Just at that moment, they were looting shops and destroying bank machines in the city. Now we know what the state officials were doing at the time of the tragedyand whom the law-enforcement forces were protecting.