In July 2025, my function titled “Scripts and Energy: How Russian Media Body the Latinization of the Kazakh Language” was revealed in The Diplomat. There, I argued, based mostly on my evaluation of over 200 articles, that Russian media views Latinization by means of a politicized lens and depends on conspiratorial, colonial, and nostalgic narratives in commenting on Kazakhstan’s script reform.
Shortly after, Russian outlet Ritm Evrazii revealed a piece, “Latin Poison for Kazakhstan,” as a direct response to my function. Its writer, Vladislav Makarov, mentioned “the bewilderment amongst Russians attributable to Kazakh officers’ cussed want to ban the Cyrillic alphabet.” Makarov additional argued that Moldovan or Azerbaijani cultures haven’t develop into identified worldwide due to their change to Latin and that the brand new alphabet serves to “tie [post-Soviet republics] to their new overlords.”
This piece doesn’t imply that my function induced a major stir in Moscow. However, it’s attention-grabbing proof of how, in responding to an English-language function about Kazakhstan’s script reform, Makarov reproduced the identical Russia-centric narratives described within the authentic function. In his phrases, Kazakhstan has been “related to the Russian World for hundreds of years,” thus justifying Russia’s commentary on Latinization.
The script reform in Kazakhstan, geared toward transitioning the Kazakh language from Cyrillic to the Latin alphabet, has been ongoing since 2017. Among the many official causes for the script change are the intentions to strengthen Kazakh id and language and to rectify the true Kazakh pronunciation, which was affected by the Soviet-imposed Cyrillic script. Conceived beneath Kazakhstan’s first president, Nursultan Nazarbayev, Latinization is to be absolutely applied by 2031.
Present President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev referred to as for a cautious method to Latinization. The most recent model of the alphabet was offered in 2021, which shares similarities with the frequent Turkic alphabet adopted by the Group of Turkic States in 2024. With lower than 5 years left, the alphabet is but to be finalized. A current assertion by the Ministry of Science and Larger Training assured that the work to enhance the newest alphabet model was underway.
Qaganat canteen’s title written within the 2018 model of the Latin alphabet. Almaty, Might 2026. Photograph by Aziz Berdiqulov
Latinization is meant for the Kazakh language solely. So why does Kazakhstan’s script reform, which doesn’t contact Russian in any respect, provoke such a powerful response amongst Russian media? Makarov’s tackle the reform sheds mild on how Russia perceives Kazakhstan as a part of the Russian world, and following this logic, any change inside the Russian world impacts Moscow.
The Russian world may be conceptualized as a socially constructed ideological and geopolitical order, which Russia makes use of to foster belonging, political loyalty, and hierarchy. It rests on the understanding that what unifies the Russian world are the Russian language, the Cyrillic alphabet, and shared historical past. Its proponents argue that the Russian world is a various neighborhood representing a large number of cultures, with Russia holding a legitimately central place.
The Russian world shouldn’t be a set assemble and may be adjusted to align with Moscow’s political motivations. It’s usually juxtaposed with the Western world, portrayed as a civilization in decline. In follow, Moscow makes use of the Russian world at quite a lot of ranges. One such use is the Russian World Basis, a state-run establishment primarily geared toward selling and increasing the Russian language, literature, and tradition overseas, significantly in Central Asia. Conceptually, Russian media make use of the Russian world notion to perpetuate the concepts of Russia’s symbolic and civilizational energy.
My evaluation of 77 articles overlaying Latinization revealed between 2001 and 2025 by each mainstream (reminiscent of Gazeta.Ru, Lenta.Ru, Kommersant) and fringe nationalist retailers (Regnum, Ritm Evrazii) exhibits how Russian media instrumentalizes the Russian world to interact discursively with the Kazakh alphabet reform.
Latinization as a Device to Exit the Russian World
Kazakhstan’s portrayal as a official and pure a part of the Russian world is foundational in Russian media protection of Latinization. Kazakhstan’s presupposed membership within the Russian world allows Russian retailers to current Latinization as a device Astana is utilizing to exit this transnational civilizational neighborhood. Headings reminiscent of “Non-Russian World: Kazakhstan is changing its ‘huge brother’” or “Passive protection in opposition to the ‘Russian World’” illustrate how Russian media interprets Latinization as a risk to the Russian world’s integrity. The alphabet reform is argued to have the potential to erode the “frequent cultural area,” which is without doubt one of the “invisible hyperlinks tying collectively the CIS nations.” The CIS refers back to the Commonwealth of Impartial States, an intergovernmental group fashioned following the dissolution of the Soviet Union that counts amongst its members most, although not all, of the previous Soviet republics.
On the identical time, the concept of the Russian world is fused with each the imperial and Soviet previous, demonstrating the idea’s versatile nature, and this fusion has quite a lot of results. First, as mentioned in a 2021 article revealed by Lenta.Ru, Kazakhstan’s very existence is portrayed as an end result of Soviet politics, because it was the Bolsheviks “who turned Kazakhs right into a nation and gifted them a state.” In line with the article, Kazakh “statehood, tradition, and script have been all created in Moscow.” This framing of Latinization not solely hyperlinks Kazakhstan’s nationhood to the Soviet regime but additionally presents the alphabet reform as an indication of ingratitude to Moscow, which perceives itself as a successor of the Soviet Union.
In one other Lenta.Ru article, from 2017, the authors expressed frustration with how Kazakh historical past books critically method the Soviet previous, one of many outcomes of which was the devastating famine of the Thirties, claiming the lives of over 1.5 million folks (one-third of the ethnic Kazakh inhabitants of that interval). They labeled Latinization as a “symbolic distancing from Russia’s legacy in Kazakhstan,” indicators of which in addition they see in altering the Soviet geographical names to Kazakh. Hierarchical narratives may be noticed in a 2017 Vedomosti article, which calls Russia “a metropole,” from which post-Soviet nations try to separate out of worry of being “swallowed by the ‘Russian world.’”
Inside the Russian world framework, the Russian language holds a central place and serves as a hyperlink that ties Kazakhstan to this transnational neighborhood. The Russian language is inseparable from Cyrillic, which Russian media deal with not as a mere script however as a symbolic and visible illustration of the Russian world. In presenting Latinization as a risk to each the Russian language and its alphabet, Russian media comply with the mechanism that scholar Lara Ryazanova-Clarke outlined as an “inverse transnational satisfaction.” This mechanism explains that Moscow treats the Russian language as a shared transnational commodity benefiting a majority of communities throughout the Russian world. These narratives change as soon as a international authorities begins implementing insurance policies that Russia perceives as hostile, which shifts the notion of Russian from a shared commodity to an object requiring Moscow’s safety.
The concept that Latinization is threatening the Russian language and Cyrillic is current throughout the items analyzed. Kazakhstan’s alphabet reform known as “an offensive in opposition to the Russian language and Cyrillic” in a number of articles, and the selection of this particular militaristic time period goals at equating Latinization with a navy operation in opposition to the Russian world’s most beneficial commodity. Such an offensive is reported to trigger an outmigration of ethnic Russians from Kazakhstan, thus drastically altering the nation’s demography. Furthermore, Latinization is predicted to break up “the Kazakh nation into two elements” since there can be folks refusing to devour data in Latinized Kazakh who will flip to Russian.
Media name Latinization “a downside for Russia” and examine the reform as a broader pattern towards the worldwide decline of the Russian language. On the identical time, Russian media frames Latinization’s detrimental affect on Russian as affecting the Kazakh language as properly. To help this assumption, Russian media introduce a linguistic hierarchy, whereas they current Russian as superior and extra resourceful in comparison with Kazakh, which is portrayed as subordinate. Kazakh and languages of different post-Soviet nations are referred to as “colloquial in nature,” with Russian media claiming that it could be inconceivable for scholarship in these nations to develop and not using a correct proficiency and use of Russian, which supplies entry to international information. Curiously, this assumption appears to be internalized by Kazakhs as properly, as a Regnum article in 2017 quoted well-known Kazakh publicist and author Seydakhmet Kuttykadam stating that “the Kazakh language and literature will fade away with out its donor-language,” which is Russian.
Equally, Russian media securitize Latinization’s affect on Cyrillic. Latinization known as “horrible information for Russia” as a result of it should not have the ability to “formulate cultural codes” by means of the alphabet, that means that Kazakhstan will drift additional towards the West. Such narratives assist us perceive how Russian media view Latinization not as a linguistic reform however as a geopolitical reconfiguration impacting Russia’s standing as a regional superpower. In discussing alleged results of Latinization on Russian and Cyrillic, authors hardly ever talk about the sensible implications of the brand new alphabet however somewhat defend the hierarchical and symbolic order created by Russia and perpetuated by means of the Russian world notion.
Latinization as Externally Pushed
One other salient theme current within the Russian media is Latinization’s framing as administered externally by the Western powers or Turkiye. By way of such narratives, it turns into extra evident how Russian media contrasts the Russian world with competing civilizational entities.
This theme depends closely on conspiratorial language. For example, protection by KM.Ru in 2010 claimed that the deliberate alphabet change means “preparations for a metamorphosis of public consciousness to adapt it to European civilizational requirements.” Equally, Nezavisimaya Gazeta in 2021 referred to “Anglo-Saxons” who, by means of imposing the Latin alphabet, need to achieve “whole management over defeated and enslaved peoples.”
Turkiye, however, is seen as a larger civilizational competitor, because it presents Kazakhstan kinship based mostly on Turkic id, tradition, and faith. Media painting Latinization as an end result of Turkiye’s interference within the inner affairs of Russia, communicated by means of such headings as “Turkiye is displacing Russia within the post-Soviet area” and “A yatagan within the again. Turkiye is edging ever nearer to Russia’s borders.” There appears to be consciousness in Russian media that between Turkic and post-Soviet identities, Kazakh folks may want the previous.
Makarov, in his 2025 Ritm Evrazii piece, requested, “Will the Latin alphabet convey the Kazakhs nearer to the Turkic world they contemplate their very own? However would a Turk from Istanbul actually really feel nearer to a Kazakh than a Russian from Chelyabinsk?” In asking these questions, he assumed that Latinization was developed in Astana to attract Turkiye and Kazakhstan nearer. Such questions are supposed to emphasise proximity between Kazakhstan and the Russian world, which is pure and historic, not like Kazakhstan-Turkiye relations, that are, on this view, politically manufactured somewhat than based mostly on genuinely shared tradition.
Externalization of Latinization signifies that Russian media view Kazakhstan as subjugated both to the West or Turkiye. Such subjugation is branded as inappropriate and malicious, as these powers search to meddle in Kazakhstan’s affairs by means of Latinization. On the identical time, the hierarchical positioning of Kazakhstan in relation to Russia can be subjugated in nature, regardless that by no means explicitly named as such or criticized. As a substitute, it’s portrayed as helpful and legit.
The end result of such rhetoric is that Russian media strips Kazakhstan of any company in finishing up its home linguistic reform. By presenting Latinization as a plot by Western or Turkish powers, Russian media negate Kazakhstan’s sovereign determination to reform the alphabet for the Kazakh language on account of its personal pursuits and goals.
Conclusions
Makarov’s article was by no means about Cyrillic or Latin. It was in regards to the anxiousness throughout the Russian media over Kazakhstan’s distancing from the hierarchy Makarov and different authors assume to be pure. Readers accustomed to Russian international coverage won’t be stunned by the imperial narratives Russian media produce in relation to the Russian world, the Russian language, and Cyrillic. What is perhaps stunning is that such narratives are activated by the script reform supposed for the Kazakh language.
On the identical time, among the many fear-mongering articles in regards to the damaging penalties of Latinization, there are hardly ever concrete examples of why the reform would affect Russian and Cyrillic. As a substitute, Russian media primarily concentrate on the prevalence of the Russian language and its alphabet and on delegitimizing Latinization as an externally pushed venture by international actors. Ultimately, Russian media shouldn’t be defending the Russian language or the Cyrillic alphabet, however the symbolic, ideological, and geopolitical hierarchy of the Russian world.
This function relies on the writer’s ongoing doctoral analysis on Kazakhstan’s script reform. All information and evaluation are from the writer’s authentic corpus and demanding discourse evaluation. Quotes are translated from Russian to English.