On May 17, Kazakh journalist Irina Mednikova was unexpectedly barred from boarding a flight to Russia at Almaty airport. At the counter, she was informed she had been declared “undesirable” by Russian authorities and was no longer allowed to enter the country. “Today I learned that I have been recognized as an undesirable person in the Russian Federation,” she wrote on social media.
Just days earlier, Kazakh anti-corruption activist Didar Smagulov reported a similar experience. Like Mednikova, he was denied entry without any explanation from Russian authorities. When questioned in parliament, Kazakh Deputy Foreign Minister Akan Rakhmetullin stated, “The reasons [for an entry ban] may vary, and usually the country has full sovereign rights not to disclose them. Apparently, there are internal considerations.”
While the Russian government has not provided reasons for these bans, many observers see them as retaliatory, coming in the wake of Kazakhstan’s own decision to deny entry to Russian historian Andrei Grozin. Although Grozin had multiple events scheduled in Kazakhstan, his previous critical comments about Kazakh politics are widely believed to have prompted the decision, despite no official explanation being given.
These incidents appear to be part of a broader pattern. Deutsche Welle recently reported that a growing number of Kazakh politicians, journalists, and academics have been denied entry to Russia. Many of those targeted said they were given no justification and were simply informed of their status as “undesirable.”
Importantly, not all those affected are politically active. According to an investigation by Radio Azattyk, around 70 Kazakh scholars have been banned from entering Russia, including historians who have not publicly commented on contemporary politics. A common theme among many of them is their academic focus on Stalin-era repression in Kazakhstan, a sensitive topic in Moscow. Russia has offered no confirmation or comment on the matter.
Kazakhstan, for its part, has also issued bans against prominent Russian figures. Director Tigran Keosayan and journalist Tina Kandelaki were denied entry following public statements that questioned Kazakh independence. The Kazakh list of “undesirable persons” was recently revealed to be more extensive than previously known, with inclusions such as philosopher Alexander Dugin and the late Russian politician Vladimir Zhirinovsky, who was born in Almaty but reportedly topped the list until his death in 2022.
One of the events Grozin had planned to attend in Kazakhstan aimed to “take stock of problems in Russian-Kazakh relations.” Ironically, the travel ban imposed on him may itself be among the most visible symptoms of those problems.
While neither country publishes a comprehensive list of those banned, the emerging pattern is difficult to ignore. Many Russian nationals barred from Kazakhstan have made statements that challenge Kazakhstan’s sovereignty or territorial integrity. Conversely, many of the Kazakhs banned from Russia have voiced support for Ukraine or engaged in academic inquiry into Soviet repression, topics that increasingly provoke sensitivities in Moscow.
With travel bans continuing to surface almost weekly, this “eye for an eye” dynamic could become a new arena for geopolitical signaling. While the long-term consequences for Kazakhstan-Russia relations remain uncertain, what is clear is that border restrictions are no longer just administrative matters – they are now tools of diplomacy.
