Kazakh Foreign Ministry spokesman Aibek Smadiyarov said on January 22 that Kremlin-friendly Russian journalist Tina Kandelaki has been banned from entering the country over a post she made online, alleging that the Russian language was being discriminated against in the Central Asian country.
Kandelaki had criticized Kazakhstan’s plan to replace the Russian names of railway stations with Kazakh ones, which caused outrage in Kazakhstan, where many reminded the reporter that the country is an independent state, RFE/RL’s Kazakh Service reported.
Last year, Kazakh officials banned Russian propagandist Tigran Keosayan from entering Kazakhstan over threats to the country online.
