Russian foreign ministry accuses Microsoft Hub in Kazakhstan of spying

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin has commented on the opening of Microsoft’s multi-regional hub in Kazakhstan. According to the Russian official, the hub has been opened to serve the interests of the U.S. In particular, the hub is necessary to make the country «dependent on the IT industry full of tools that facilitate U.S. intelligence services,» the Russian TASS news agency reported.

What did Galuzin say in the interview with TASS?

«We have no doubt that the initiative of the multi-regional hub covering post-Soviet countries is, first of all, going to serve the interests of folks in Washington, D.C. Their goal is to make these countries dependent on the IT industry full of tools that facilitate work of U.S. intelligence agencies,» he said.

According to Galuzin, «many tech giants from Silicon Valley have been involved in these activities.» He also noted that «there are many examples when U.S. and European IT giants used their technologies to the detriment of national interests of different countries.»

«Of course, it’s up to every country to decide how dangerous this project may be for their digital sovereignty. From our perspective, we are trying to warn our friends within the Commonwealth of Independent States about the negative consequences of cooperation with these companies and we will continue to do so in the future,» Galuzin underlined.

The context. In April 2023, media reported that the Microsoft Corporation was going to open a multi-regional hub in Kazakhstan, which will cover Central Asian countries, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Mongolia and Pakistan.

According to Bagdat Musin, Kazakhstan’s minister of digital development, innovations and aerospace industry, it will turn Kazakhstan into a regional center of attention in terms of technologies and innovative solutions.

In 2022, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev met with Michelle Simmons, head of Microsoft’s multi-country subsidiary in Central and Eastern Europe during the 77th session of the U.N. General Assembly. At the time, the two sides discussed the potential expansion of the company’s representative office in Kazakhstan into a regional hub. Right after the meeting, Tokayev ordered the country’s cabinet to provide the initiative with necessary assistance.

As Musin noted, the opening of the hub is a result of the combined efforts by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan, the country’s Consulate General in San Francisco and Microsoft’s representative office in Kazakhstan.

In June of this year, Apple, Google and Microsoft confirmed that they were ready to expand their presence in the region. For instance, a representative of Google said that the company was interested in broader cooperation with Kazakhstan due to the necessity to leave Russia.

What else have Russian officials said about Kazakhstan?

In June 2022, Konstantin Zatulin, a deputy of the State Duma and first deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee for CIS affairs, Eurasian Integration and Relations with Compatriots, used hardball rhetoric toward Kazakhstan on several occasions. For instance, after President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev’s said that Kazakhstan didn’t recognize the independence of the Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhansk People’s Republic, he almost threatened Kazakhstan.

«Everywhere we say that as long as other countries want to be friends with us, we would not raise territorial claims against them. We said that to Ukraine as well. Otherwise, what happened in Ukraine could happen again. This is why, I think, Kazakhstan should pay more attention to this point,» he said at the time.

In Jule 2023, Member of the State Duma Viktor Sobolev said that «the collective West is promoting Russophobia in Kazakhstan.» Aybek Smadiyarov, the official spokesperson of the Foreign Ministry of Kazakhstan commented on this statement.

«We are not focusing our attention on such groundless statements. However, we always take this information into consideration,» he highlighted.

According to Smadiyarov, Kazakhstan’s government doesn’t track the attitude towards Kazakhstanis in other countries because they «always feel free in every country throughout the world thanks to our policy, our people and our mentality.»