Russia’s Calm Response To The Karakalpakstan Crisis Discredits Color Revolution Speculation

If Russia had any reason to seriously regard the Nukus Incident as a failed copycat attempt of January’s Hybrid War of Terror on Kazakhstan that required a Moscow-led CSTO peacekeeping mission to quell, then it would have certainly said as much, especially in order to discredit the Wets in the eyes of the Central Asian Republics. It’s unrealistic to expect that Russia would inexplicably cut the US-led West some slack by covering up for it if the Nukus Incident was truly a full-fledged foreign-backed Color Revolution like many in the Alt-Media Community prematurely concluded for reasons of “narrative/political convenience”.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov reacted calmly to last weekend’s Karakalpakstan Crisis, which threw cold water on the Alt-Media Community’s (AMC) speculation that Friday’s Nukus Incident which killed 18 people and wounded another 243 more was a full-fledged foreign-backed Color Revolution and not an opportunistic crime carried out under the cover of mostly peaceful protests. According to him, “Everything that happens in Uzbekistan is this country’s domestic affair”, while also predicting that “all the existing issues will be resolved through active efforts by Uzbekistan’s leadership.” This pragmatic statement coincides with the lawmakers voting to exclude the draft amendments related to that autonomous region from the constitutional reform process after its president suggested so on Saturday.

For background, the reader is encouraged to review the author’s six-part analytical series on this crisis:

* “It’s Too Early To Call The Protests In Uzbekistan’s Karakalpakstan A Color Revolution”

* “Applying Putin’s Advice Against Wishful Thinking To Alt-Media’s Color Revolution Speculation”

* “Deconstructing What Just Transpired In Uzbekistan’s Karakalpakstan On Friday”

* “The Socio-Political (Soft Security) Dynamics Of Uzbekistan’s Karakalpakstan Crisis”

* “Ten Questions For The Alt-Media Community To Contemplate About Karakalpakstan”

* “Analyzing Uzbek President Mirziyoyev’s Address To The People Of Karakalpakstan”

The rest of the present piece will analyze Russia’s calm response to last weekend’s chaotic events.

Although criminal elements employed some Color Revolution technology and their unsuccessful attempted seizure of regional power was misportrayed by the US-led Western Mainstream Media (MSM) as “the authorities killing unarmed and peaceful protesters without provocation”, the events arguably don’t satisfy the criteria of a Color Revolution in the classic sense. Uzbekistan realized this from the get-go, which is why President Shavkat Mirziyoyev speedily departed for the regional capital less than 24 hours after order was restored. While there, he corrected the locals’ misunderstanding of the constitutional reform process that was manipulated to get them into illegally protesting and thus unwittingly functioning as human shields to protect the criminals during their coup attempt.

That targeted government’s unofficial assessment, which is that this was an opportunistic crime carried out under the cover of mostly peaceful protests comprised of genuinely concerned locals who sincerely thought (whether rightly or wrongly) that the precious linguistic rights that form an inextricable part of their identity might soon be eroded upon the removal of their region’s autonomy, was also shared by its close Russian partner as evidenced by Peskov’s calm reaction. If Russia had any reason to seriously regard the Nukus Incident as a failed copycat attempt of January’s Hybrid War of Terror on Kazakhstan that required a Moscow-led CSTO peacekeeping mission to quell, then it would have certainly said as much, especially in order to discredit the Wets in the eyes of the Central Asian Republics (CARs).   

Instead, President Putin’s official representative reaffirmed Russia’s stance that the issue is a “domestic affair” and expressed confidence that everything will continue stabilizing in Karakalpakstan. It’s unrealistic to expect that Russia would inexplicably cut the US-led West some slack by covering up for it if the Nukus Incident was truly a full-fledged foreign-backed Color Revolution like many in the AMC prematurely concluded for reasons of “narrative/political convenience”. It therefore remains to be seen whether those influencers who insisted on the Color Revolution theory will correct the record by at the very least reporting his words without comment to their audience or at best issuing a mea culpa and explaining why they got it wrong.