Kazakhstan commented on Kandelaki’s words about the Russian language in the republic

ASTANA, January 22 Official representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan Aibek Smadiyarov invited the director of the TNT television channel Tina Kandelaki to the republic after her words about the situation of the Russian language in this country.
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“The saddest thing is that our neighbors, our friends, know little about us, and this is upsetting. Because their information about us is unreliable. Let them come to our country and see how we live. Rather than inventing some topics and entering into conflicts on social networks, let’s better continue our common work,” he said.

Smadiyarov emphasized that Kandelaki was not included in the list of foreigners who were denied entry into Kazakhstan due to negative statements about the republic. According to him, there is no such list “with serial numbers”. An official representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs noted that such lists are an internal matter of each state.
“»Suppose, if you don’t like someone, you won’t let him into your home. So we won’t let him in. This measure is being taken in if necessary. Do not demand that we include anyone on this list today or tomorrow. The state will not allow this to happen,» Smadiyarov said.
When asked by journalists whether the Foreign Ministry plans to include Kandelaki in this list, he found it difficult to answer. At the same time, Smadiyarov emphasized that the TV presenter is unlikely to come to Kazakhstan.

Tina Kandelaki wrote on the Telegram channel last Tuesday that in Kazakhstan “slowly but surely they continue to displace Russian as the state language level». She also compared the decision of the republican authorities to rename several railway stations with the ban on the Russian language in the Baltic countries.
The KazTAG agency later reported, citing Smadiyarov, that Kazakhstan maintains a list of foreigners who speak negatively about the republic. It was clarified that such people would subsequently be barred from entering the country. At the same time, the official representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not say who exactly is included in the list, but noted that each state has a similar document.