Kazakhstan’s National Security Committee is investigating dozens of draft-age Russian men it suspects of possessing counterfeit residence permits, Russian legal defence advocacy group Slovo Zashite warned on Tuesday.
In a post on Telegram, Slovo Zashite said that several human rights activists, who wished to remain anonymous, had been assisting Russian anti-war migrants residing in Kazakhstan since the investigation began in late February.
The activists said they feared the investigation could lead to a “mass deportation” of Russians who have fled to Kazakhstan to avoid military conscription at home, noting that the investigators assigned to the case had been working with unusual speed, interrogating three to four people at a time.
According to Slovo Zashite, the number of Russian citizens currently residing in Kazakhstan in a legal “grey area” could be in the tens of thousands, as obtaining legal permanent residency in the country is only possible for those employed in Kazakhstan.
Kazakhstan has previously “turned a blind eye” to the availability of fake residence permits to Russians fleeing conscription, who lack alternative routes to normalise their legal status in the country, Slovo Zashite said.
Pointing to the fact that the investigation is being led by the National Security Committee rather than Kazakhstan’s migration police, and that it has so far targeted individual Russian migrants rather than those producing the fake permits, activists believe that the investigation is being carried out in collaboration with the Kremlin.
Kazakhstan has been one of the main destinations for Russians fleeing the country since the invasion of Ukraine, due primarily to its large Russian-speaking population and visa-free regime for Russian citizens. According to Kazakh government data, in March 2025, 87,000 Russian citizens held permanent residency in Kazakhstan, making them by far Kazakhstan’s largest immigrant population.
In recent months, however, Astana has demonstrated a growing willingness to cooperate with the Russian government and deport or extradite Russian citizens wanted for various crimes in Russia, often on politically motivated grounds.
In February, Kazakhstan deported Ukrainian citizen Alexander Kachurkhin to Russia, where he was immediately charged with treason for an alleged bank transfer to Ukraine. A former volunteer for Alexey Navalny, Yuliya Yemelyanova, is currently facing extradition in Almaty after being detained by Kazakhstan in February.
