Russian officials were left scrambling for translation devices after President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev began his remarks during Vladimir Putin’s visit to the central Asian country.
This is an encapsulation of the tables turned in the Kazakhstan-Russia relations: President of Kazakhstan pulls a power move and opens his speech to the visiting Russian delegation headed by Putin speaking Kazakh. You can see the bewilderment and confusion among the delegation pic.twitter.com/fEpJB57frR— Bakhti Nishanov (@b_nishanov) November 9, 2023
It was hilarious when Tokayev started speaking Kazak instead of Russian.
“shocked Kremlin officials when he opened his speech in his native Kazakh, rather than Russian.”
A Kazakh speaking Kazakh....Hmmmm. Is there any nothingburger you can’t turn into agitprop?