Voices from Moscow have expressed serious concern over Kazakhstan’s plan to build artillery ammunition plants in line with NATO standards.
“We are trying to ignore the fact that a seemingly brotherly republic has abandoned not only the Russian language but also the Cyrillic alphabet. How it is setting up so-called resilience hubs in support of Ukraine. And now they are moving to NATO standards for ammunition, apparently planning to abandon Russian weapons and replace them with Western ones,” said Alexey Zhuravlev, a nationalist politician and first deputy chairman of the Defense Committee of the Russian State Duma, referring to Kazakhstan’s “unfriendly” move, according to Gazeta.ru.
The $1 billion weapons manufacturing initiative, as reported by the Moscow Times on December 17, marks a significant shift for the former Soviet republic.
For decades, Kazakhstan had almost zero production of artillery weapons, mines or basic small-caliber ammunition, according to a report by Ukrainian outlet United24.
This lack of production had left the country dependent on Soviet-era stockpiles and suppliers from Russia and other former Soviet states.
Modernization
According to Gazeta.ru, a senior Kazakh military official told RTVI that the absence of domestic production meant that the combat readiness of Kazakhstan’s Armed Forces relied almost entirely on inherited Soviet stockpiles within the country and on supplies from Russia and other former Soviet states. He stressed that creating an independent ammunition production base is critical to national security.
The factory construction program, known as the ASPAN project, предусматриes the building of four plants that will produce both conventional and NATO-standard ammunition.
The first plant is expected to begin operations in 2027, while the remaining facilities will follow in later phases.
Zhuravlev also referred to Kazakhstan’s long-standing ties with NATO.
He questioned NATO’s interest in Kazakhstan, arguing that it is linked to the country’s shared border with Russia, and warned that such cooperation could turn Kazakhstan into a “Russophobic state,” drawing parallels with Ukraine.
In November, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev reiterated close relations with Russia during an official visit to Moscow, where he was received by Vladimir Putin.
The visit took place just days after Tokayev and four other Central Asian leaders met Donald Trump at the White House.
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