Putin Visits Kazakhstan While 2,420 Kazakhs Fight or Have Fought in His Army - 460 Dead or Missing

Vladimir Putin arrived in Kazakhstan on May 28, 2026 for talks with President Tokayev. As on previous visits, Putin once again failed to correctly pronounce the Kazakh president's name. But that detail matters far less than what the numbers say.

Kazakhstan ranks 4th out of 135 countries from which Russia recruits soldiers for its war against Ukraine. As of May 2026, the "I Want to Live" project holds verified personal data on 2,420 Kazakh nationals who have fought or are currently fighting in the Russian Armed Forces. Among the 48 countries whose citizens are held as prisoners of war in Ukraine, Kazakhstan also ranks 4th.

Being held in captivity is incomparably better than being killed. By confirmed data alone, at least 460 Kazakh nationals have been killed or gone missing. These are minimum figures - only those who can be confirmed by name, whose list the "I Want to Live" project published today. The real number of Kazakh lives destroyed by Russia is significantly higher.

Kazakhstan has recently been prosecuting citizens who fought in the Russian army with increasing frequency. Whether this will affect the scale of recruitment remains to be seen - Russia has no intention of reducing its foreign recruitment operations. On the contrary, the Kremlin plans to continue expanding its pipeline of foreign nationals into the war against Ukraine.

One would hope that today in Astana, someone reminds Putin of one thing: Kazakh citizens should not become expendable material for a foreign occupation army. Kazakhstan can and should speak to Russia as an equal - defending the interests of its own country and people.

StopRussianRecruiters.org, citing data published by the "I Want to Live" project, shares the list of the Kazakh citizens who fought for Russia and went missing or were killed, below:

StopRussianRecruiters.org reminds all foreign nationals serving in the Russian Armed Forces that there is as an option that guarantees survival. Surrender is possible, it is safe, and it has been chosen by foreign nationals from 48 countries now held as prisoners of war in Ukraine. Every one of them was supposed to die in place of a Russian soldier. They made a different decision. Click here to find out the details. 

Source: I Want to Live Telegram Channel