A fuel price increase in Kazakhstan, along with the deaths of 227 people caused by protests, exposed the secret system in which 162 individuals linked to former President Nursultan Nazarbayev controlled half of the nation’s wealth. The causes of these deaths extend beyond domestic corruption to Britain’s strategic construction and maintenance of the financial architecture through which the wealth of the Kazakhstani people was stolen, hidden, and laundered. Golden visas, shell companies, offshore concealment, and a professional class of enablers - lawyers, accountants, bankers, and property agents - allowed the Nazarbayev family and their associates to move hundreds of millions of pounds into London real estate and UK-registered holding companies. Applying Thomas Pogge’s distinction between positive and negative duties, Britain did not merely fail to help Kazakhstan; it violated its negative duty not to cause harm, since the harm was both foreseeable and avoidable. Responsibility is not reduced by Nazarbayev’s actions or by the existence of alternative safe havens; rather, culpability is multiplicative and shared among many actors. Because Britain caused the harm, it owes not charity but correction. What Britain built, Britain can dismantle.
Atlantic Council. (2022, March). Not just Russian oligarchs: Britain must block Kazakhstan’s kleptocrats from securing a safe haven. https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/new-atlanticist/not-just-russian-oligarchs-britain-must-block-kazakhstans-kleptocrats-from-securing-a-safe-haven/
Barry, C., & Øverland, G. (2016). Responding to global poverty: Harm, responsibility, and agency. Cambridge University Press.
Bertelsmann Stiftung. (2026). BTI 2026 Kazakhstan country report. https://bti-project.org/en/reports/country-report/KAZ
Chatham House. (2021, December). The UK’s kleptocracy problem: How servicing the post-Soviet elite weakens the rule of law. Royal Institute of International Affairs. https://www.chathamhouse.org/2021/12/uks-kleptocracy-problem
Cooley, A., & Heathershaw, J. (2017). Dictators without borders: Power and money in Central Asia. Yale University Press.
Cooley, A., Heathershaw, J., & Sharman, J. C. (2018). The rise of kleptocracy: Laundering cash, whitewashing reputations. Journal of Democracy, 29(1), 39–53.
Diplomat. (2022, February 8). New strikes and protests in Kazakhstan. https://thediplomat.com/2022/02/new-strikes-and-protests-in-kazakhstan/
Duggal, H. & Chughtai, A. (2022). Maps and charts to understand Kazakhstan’s protests. Al Jazeera. Retrieved from https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/1/7/maps-and-charts-to-understand-the-protests-in-kazakhstan
European Institute for Asian Studies. (n.d.). President Nursultan Nazarbayev – Forging the Kazakhstan way. https://eias.org/publications/op-ed/president-nursultan-nazarbayev-forging-the-kazakhstan-way/
Published by Academics Stand Against PovertyYale University, Department of Philosophy, P.O. Box 208306, 108 Conn. Hall, Old Campus, New Haven, Connecticut, 208306, USAeditor@journalasap.org
Foreign Affairs. (2022, May 2). Can Kazakhstan shed its kleptocratic past? https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/united-states/2022-05-02/can-kazakhstan-shed-its-kleptocratic-past
Heathershaw, J., Mayne, T., Prelec, T., & Tokubayev, S. (2025). The incumbency advantage and the enabler effect: How Londongrad beat the UK anti-money laundering regime. Europe-Asia Studies, 78(2), 157-192. 10.1080/09668136.2025.2549806
Heathershaw, J., Prelec, T., & Mayne, T. (2025). Indulging kleptocracy: British service providers, postcommunist elites, and the enabling of corruption. Oxford University Press.
International Crisis Group. (2022). Behind the unrest in Kazakhstan. https://www.crisisgroup.org/europe-central-asia/central-asia/kazakhstan/behind-unrest-kazakhstan
Khar Center. (2025). The evolution of authoritarianism in Kazakhstan (Transition period: From Nazarbayev to Tokayev, 2019–2025). Khazar Research and Analysis Centre. https://kharcenter.com/en/publications/the-evolution-of-authoritarianism-in-kazakhstan-part-i
NPR. (2022, January 8). There’s chaos in Kazakhstan. Here’s what you need to know. National Public Radio. https://www.npr.org/2022/01/08/1071198056/theres-chaos-in-kazakhstan-heres-what-you-need-to-know
OCCRP (Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project). (2022, January). The Nazarbayev billions: How Kazakhstan’s leader of the nation controls vast assets through charitable foundations. https://www.occrp.org/en/investigation/the-nazarbayev-billions-how-kazakhstans-leader-of-the-nation-controls-vast-assets-through-charitable-foundations
OpenDemocracy / SourceMaterial. (2022, January). Kazakh leader’s grandson was mystery client at collapsed London golden visa firm. https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/kazakh-leaders-grandson-under-mcmafia-order-was-mystery-client-at-collapsed-london-golden-visa-firm/
Pogge, T. (2002). World poverty and human rights: Cosmopolitan responsibilities and reforms. Polity Press.
Pogge, T. (2005). Severe poverty as a violation of negative duties. Ethics & International Affairs, 19(1), 55–83. 10.1111/j.1747-7093.2005.tb00490.x
Prelec, T., Barrington, R., Garrod, G., & Tonin, P. (2025). Gatekeepers, enablers or technicians? GI-ACE / Spotlight on Corruption.
Royal United Services Institute. (2023). Combating kleptocracy: Lessons from the response to Russia’s war in Ukraine. https://static.rusi.org/sanctions-against-kleptocracy-final.pdf
Transparency International UK. (n.d.). Unexplained Wealth Order dismissed. https://archive.transparency.org.uk/press-releases/unexplained-wealth-order-uwo-dismissed-london-nursaltan-nazarbayev-dariga-nazarba-nurali-aliyev
Turp-Balazs, C. (2024, October 15). Economy in focus: Kazakhstan. Emerging Europe. https://emerging-europe.com/economy-in-focus-kazakhstan-2/
UK Government. (2023). Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023: Factsheets. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/economic-crime-and-corporate-transparency-act-2023-factsheets
UK Parliament, Hansard. (2022, February 3). Kazakhstan: Anti-corruption sanctions. https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2022-02-03/debates/41000B02-86AB-499E-8547-0F5AA84611B0/KazakhstanAnti-CorruptionSanctions
University of Exeter. (2022). Recent reforms are not enough to tackle kleptocracy. https://news-archive.exeter.ac.uk/research/2022/articles/recentreformsarenotenough.html
University of Helsinki. (2023). Kleptocracy in Kazakhstan: Understanding kleptocratic activity of President Nazarbayev’s inner circle [Master’s thesis, University of Helsinki].
VOA. (2022, January 26). Explainer: What post-unrest reforms is Kazakhstan proposing? Voice of America. https://www.voanews.com/a/explainer-what-post-unrest-reforms-is-kazakhstan-proposing-/6412901.html
