Nazarbayev urges people to learn from Ukraine

    By Daniyar Mukhtarov
    President Nursultan Nazarbayev has urged citizens of Kazakhstan to learn a lesson from the situation in Ukraine.
    “I just went on a difficult working visit to Ukraine,” Nazarbayev said. “The root of all the problems there is in the absence of stability and accord in society, so the economy isn’t working, and there is no one to deal with it.”
    “People need basic things. There is no light, no heat, there are phased blackouts ... plants and factories are closing, businesses are collapsing,” he said on December 25 during a nation-wide teleconference.
    Nazarbayev said that during their meeting, Ukrainian Prime Minister, Arseniy Yatsenyuk admitted, “he can’t imagine what funds are needed to restore Luhansk or Donbass.”
    “Everything is broken in the country; over 10 years there have been political battles, which grew into an armed conflict,” Nazarbayev said. “Does anyone really think that an ordinary people came out to fight? It was nothing like that. It was the politicians, who sent them into the fire of fratricide.”
    “Such politicians need to be stopped in time for the sake of the country’s people,” he added.
    The president noted that over 5,000 people have been killed during the crisis in Ukraine, and more than half of the deceased were elderly, women and children.
    “What you were fighting for? What were you defending, and from what enemies? All the work loses sense when people are dying, cities are being destroyed and neighbors fence each other off with the help of blockhouses... Such wounds will not heal easily,” Nazarbayev stated.
    He recalled that many residents of Kazakhstan are natives of Ukraine, and they have made a considerable contribution to the establishment of the national economy.
    “I urge the leaders of all states to stop the bacchanalia (original – KNL) and restore normal life in Ukraine,” he said.
    “Every resident of Kazakhstan should understand that only in times of stability could we achieve what we have today,” Nazarbayev said, Trend reports.