Lessons from Kazakhstan for 2024

The document details Kazakhstan's efforts to eliminate its inherited Soviet nuclear and biological weapons legacies and its current leadership roles in the NPT and the proposed International Agency for Biological Safety (IABS). It recommends that Kazakhstan push for the elimination of tactical nuclear weapons, the creation of a nuclear weapons database, and the formalization of the IABS to address gaps in the Biological Weapons Convention.

• Upon achieving independence in 1991, Kazakhstan inherited the world's fourth-largest nuclear arsenal, consisting of over 1,400 warheads, intercontinental ballistic missiles, 40 Tupolev TU-95 Bear bombers, and 370 AS-15 cruise missiles. The nation subsequently ratified the NPT in 1994 and completed the removal or dismantlement of all warheads and components by April 1995.
• Kazakhstan has implemented several high-profile nuclear security projects to secure Soviet-era materials, including Project Sapphire to transport 600kg of highly enriched uranium to the US, the Degelen Mountain project to secure plutonium and other materials at the Semipalatinsk test site, and the removal of weapons-grade material from the BN-350 fast breeder reactor in Aktau.
• Kazakhstan hosts the IAEA's Low Enriched Uranium (LEU) Bank, established in 2017, which acts as a supplier of last resort for member states to ensure they can fuel civil nuclear reactors without needing to develop their own enrichment capacity.
• Kazakhstan inherited a massive Soviet biological weapons infrastructure, including the Stepnogorsk facilities designed for the mass production of weaponized anthrax. The government chose to dismantle this equipment and later partnered with the US to create the Central Reference Laboratory (CRL) near Almaty for secure pathogen handling.
• In November 2021, President Kassym-Zhomart Tokayev proposed the International Agency for Biological Safety (IABS) to fill gaps in the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC), specifically to promote peaceful biotechnology and reinforce the prohibition of biological and toxin weapons.
• As chair of the NPT Preparatory Committee, Kazakhstan is advocating for several specific measures: the ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), the creation of a nuclear weapons database with a universal reporting template, and a reduction in the role of nuclear weapons in military doctrines.
• The authors argue that the international community should specifically target the elimination of tactical nuclear weapons to counter narratives that these weapons are 'usable' in conflict and to reduce the risk of accidental or designed nuclear war.

APA

Parthemore, C., & Weber, A. (2024). Lessons from Kazakhstan for 2024. The Council on Strategic Risks. https://councilonstrategicrisks.org/2024/01/30/lessons-from-kazakhstan-for-2024/

Chicago

Parthemore, Christine, and Andrew Weber. Lessons from Kazakhstan for 2024. The Council on Strategic Risks, 2024. https://councilonstrategicrisks.org/2024/01/30/lessons-from-kazakhstan-for-2024/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Parthemore |first1=Christine |last2=Weber |first2=Andrew |title=Lessons from Kazakhstan for 2024 |publisher=The Council on Strategic Risks |date=30 January 2024 |url=https://councilonstrategicrisks.org/2024/01/30/lessons-from-kazakhstan-for-2024/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{parthemore2024lessons, author = {Parthemore, Christine and Weber, Andrew}, title = {{Lessons from Kazakhstan for 2024}}, institution = {The Council on Strategic Risks}, year = {2024}, month = jan, url = {https://councilonstrategicrisks.org/2024/01/30/lessons-from-kazakhstan-for-2024/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }