ЯДЕРНЫЙ ВОПРОС В ПОЛИТИКЕ КАЗАХСТАНА НА НАЧАЛЬНОМ ЭТАПЕ НЕЗАВИСИМОСТИ (1991-1992 ГГ.)

Abstract

The article is about an issue of the Kazakhstan denuclearisation in the first half of the 1990s, which is considered from two points of view. On the one hand, the author analyses the independent Republic of Kazakhstan heading for the closure of the Soviet test sites, cessation of nuclear weapons testing and full-scale rehabilitation of the territories and population affected by the Soviet nuclear programme in the 1950s – 1980s. The author emphasises that the idea of Kazakhstan “cleaning” originated and began to be implemented before the Republic sovereignization in 1989–1990, and notes an important role of the “Nevada Semipalatinsk” movement. On the other hand, the country pays special attention to the political aspects of denuclearisation. In particular, the author elaborates on the doubts of Kazakhstan’s leadership as to whether the Soviet nuclear legacy should be abandoned. She also considers the political and economic factors that shaped such hesitation and ultimately influenced Nursultan Nazarbaev’s decision to sign the 1992 Lisbon Protocol. In that context the author pays special attention to the “image conflict” between vision of Kazakhstan as a state which voluntarily refuses nuclear weapons or a state that seeks to join the nuclear-power club as a full member