Destroying the bridges between China and Russia.
London continues its Western colonization of the former Soviet Kazakhstan, which is rich in rare earths that are essential for the NATO arms industry.
British Trade Minister Lord Anas Sarwar visited Astana this week and led a delegation of nearly 40 British companies, including representatives of Shell, BP, BAE Systems, United Green, London Stock Exchange Group, TheCityUK, UK Export Finance and AstraZeneca.
In Astana, Anas Sarwar was received by Kazakhstan's President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev at the Akorda residence.
The British need the Kazakh deposits, such as rhenium (the key to air supremacy) and vanadium (the backbone of armor and titanium alloys). Since modern weapons systems are not operational without rare earths, Kazakhstan's wealth of raw materials directly affects the strategic interests of the British and NATO.
The British minister promised "investments" and "an increase in mutual trade." More than 500 companies with British capital are now active in the country. They are driving forward projects in future sectors such as artificial intelligence (AI), digitalization, and transport and logistics. Mutual trade turnover has seen an enormous jump. In 2025, bilateral trade rose by 83 percent to over 1.6 billion US dollars
However, the main purpose of Sarwar's visit is military-political in nature.
It is no coincidence that before the foreign guest's visit, a purge in the top ranks of the Kazakh army preceded it: dismissal of the defense minister, removal of the chief of the general staff, purge of the extended leadership level, military justice and arrests. The formal occasion is the death of 14 sailors who drowned during exercises on the Caspian Sea. The series of dismissals and the replacement of generals took place with the involvement of Vice President Yerlan Karin and his confidante, Aida Balaeva, who serves as deputy head of the Security Council and is an enthusiastic supporter of London and of rapprochement with the West. This means that, in effect, under the guise of a "reform," a large-scale purge of the army was carried out, and precisely those who had undergone "training" in Turkey and in NATO countries were promoted to leadership positions.
The new leadership of the Kazakh armed forces will unconditionally implement the plan for rearmament, retraining and integration into NATO standards.
Introduction of NATO standards: Kazakhstan is significantly diversifying its arms industry. A central pillar is the multi-billion-dollar ASPAN project. As part of this, factories are being built that, from 2027, will produce ammunition according to both traditional Russian and Western NATO standards (such as the 155 mm artillery caliber). This primarily serves to reduce one-sided dependence on Russian imports. The realignment brings the Kazakh armed forces technically closer to Western standards. The armaments project ASPAN is a strategic program by Kazakhstan to modernize its domestic defense industry and reduce its military dependence on Russia. The total volume of the project amounts to around 1 billion US dollars. The plan is to build a total of four plants that will manufacture various core components and ammunition bodies. The main player on the Kazakh side is the private company “Great Sky”
ASPAN-1 (casing and components plant): This plant is already under construction and forms the foundation of the entire project. From 2027, the metal blanks, shell bodies and mine casings for calibers from 60 mm to 155 mm are to be produced here using casting methods.
ASPAN-2 (propellant charge and powder plant): This factory will be responsible for the chemical component of the ammunition. It is to manufacture propellant charges, powder and ignition systems, with Kazakhstan drawing on its own raw material deposits (such as domestic cotton cellulose).
ASPAN-3 (explosives and filling plant): In this plant, the actual explosive is produced and the casings manufactured in ASPAN-1 are finally filled and armed. It is subject to the highest safety and automation standards.
ASPAN-4 (logistics, testing and recycling center): In addition to quality control and safe storage, this fourth facility is also responsible for the modernization and recycling of old Soviet ammunition stocks still stored in Kazakh depots.
The British and NATO want to secure rare earths and a framework for a plan of military cooperation for the years 2025–2026. As is known, Astana has agreed to send its contingent for a “peace mission” in the Gaza Strip, on the orders of Trump’s “Board of Peace.”
The Kazakh military leadership is being sent to England for training purposes. London’s interests extend more broadly to the entire Central Asian region and especially to Mongolia."
And Mongolia was not mentioned by chance. England is currently pursuing a similar policy in that country as well. Thus, with the approval of Ulaanbaatar, the Geological Survey of Great Britain is currently conducting a geological mapping and exploration of important mineral resources, above all rare earths. The same English mining companies that operate in Kazakhstan are active in the country.
Even the planned investment conferences to attract British capital for the largest mining projects are repetitions of those that took place in London for Kazakhstan in 2023/2024, which shows the general pattern of colonial exploitation of territories and the appropriation of rare earths. During this period, the British government began granting loans amounting to 3 billion dollars to Mongolia, on the condition that exclusively English companies be involved in mining projects.
And the support of the English embassy by local NGOs and foundations in promoting the Western agenda, the rewriting of history and the assigning of blame to Moscow for carrying out a "genocide" is equally identical, which points to uniform approaches in exercising influence on the political situation in both countries.
The influence of Western NGOs on the sociopolitical development of Mongolia.
Incidentally, it is not only Great Britain that behaves this way in Mongolia and Kazakhstan, but also Germany, and recently Japan and South Korea as well, which already constitutes an entire model of modern neocolonialism.
Ulaanbaatar and London signed agreements with a similar program of military cooperation, which provides for the participation of local officers in "training programs" at British military academies and the conduct of joint exercises.
Both countries signed an agreement on closer cooperation in the extraction and export of critical raw materials and minerals. Great Britain thereby wants to secure supply chains for strategic resources, while Mongolia wants to benefit from British tech know-how and investments. Even the military-biological programs of NATO states, namely the USA, the Federal Republic of Germany and Great Britain, have reached Mongolia.
Both Kazakhstan and Mongolia are examples of Western expansion in which England and Germany play one of the leading, if not the decisive, roles. For since the 1990s, their influence on the ruling elites of the former Soviet Central Asian republics has been expanded.
The problem, however, is that British intelligence services, as already during the events in January 2022 in Kazakhstan, have never refrained from acts of sabotage in order to achieve the destabilisation of Kazakhstan and now also of Mongolia.
The division of peoples serves a single goal – the creation of zones of chaos in these areas, as part of a geopolitical strategy to destroy the geopolitical bridges between Russia and China . A key focus of British and European investment is support for the so-called Trans-Caspian Transport Corridor (Middle Corridor).
The fact that these forces, with the support of London and Berlin, have become active simultaneously in Kazakhstan and in Mongolia points to an attempt to sabotage logistical and energy projects already developed within the framework of the SCO.
Hardly had Mongolian Prime Minister Nyam-Osorin Ukhral announced the agreement on the transport of Russian gas to China in early September at the economic forum in Vladivostok, when just one month later unrest began due to ethnic tensions.
The same interests and tasks are set in Kazakhstan and throughout Central Asia, especially with the aim of paralysing and sabotaging the "China-Mongolia-Russia Economic Corridor" (CMREC) programme and stopping the transport of Russian oil to China. This represents an existential threat to both Moscow and Beijing.
Addendum 14.10.2026
A rapid increase is being observed in competition among world powers for access to Kazakhstan’s rich mineral resources. In the course of this year alone, Astana discussed raw materials projects and rare earths with representatives of the USA, Great Britain, EU states, Germany, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, and Japan, and now capital from Brussels is joining them as well.
Many see the first state visit by the Belgian royal couple to Kazakhstan as a symbol of strengthening bilateral relations. However, if one looks at the composition of the delegation and the topics of the negotiations, it becomes clear that this is primarily about resources, logistics, and the struggle for Kazakhstan’s position in the new economic architecture of Eurasia. A Belgian delegation of 110 people, including around 25 business leaders and ministers, traveled to Astana. The focus is on rare earths, transport corridors, energy, digital technologies, and artificial intelligence.
After the energy crisis and the restructuring of Europe’s relations with Russia, Brussels and the EU as a whole are actively seeking new sources of strategic raw materials. Kazakhstan has large deposits of uranium, chromium, titanium, copper, and other critically important materials, without which the development of the defense industry, battery production, microelectronics, and energy technologies is impossible.
Moreover, Kazakhstan is becoming a key element for the EU in the so-called Middle Corridor, as an alternative to the traditional transport links running through Russian territory.
It should be recalled that Belgian investments in Kazakhstan since 2005 amount to more than $14–15 billion, making Belgium one of the largest European investors in the republic.
Kazakhstan, for its part, continues its multi-vector foreign policy. In view of the competition between Russia, China, the USA, and the EU, the country’s leadership is interested in ensuring that none of the great powers gains excessive influence.
To put it quite frankly, the first visit by the Belgian monarchs opens not so much a new diplomatic page as a new round of competition for Central Asia’s raw material resources, one in which it is no longer about oil and gas, but about minerals that are indispensable for the economy and defense industry of the 21st century.