Russia-friendly country abandons Russian turbines in favor of Chinese ones
Photo: Ekibastuz GRES-2 (gres2.kz)
Kazakhstan has decided to abandon Russian turbines at the Ekibastuz GRES-2 in favor of Chinese ones. This will allow the country to save $500 million, Orda reports.
Kazakhstan has reviewed the construction plan for the third power unit at the Ekibastuz GRES-2 and decided to abandon Russian turbines and generators.
The new equipment supplier is the Chinese company Harbin Electric International. The decision allowed Kazakhstan to reduce the project’s cost by more than 250 billion tenge (around $500 million).
According to reports, the construction was previously planned with the participation of Russian enterprises, relying on a preferential loan from the aggressor country. However, the funding never arrived, and delivery timelines kept shifting.
Separately, Kazakhstan plans to amend the wording in its new constitution regarding the status of the Russian language. In particular, the sentence stating that Russian is used "on an equal footing" with Kazakh will be replaced with "alongside Kazakh."
In addition, Latvia’s National Electronic Mass Media Council (NEPLP) stated that the state should not indirectly support commercial Russian-language broadcasting. Such stations currently use radio frequencies, which are state property, free of charge.
Recently, Chinese President Xi Jinping unveiled an ambitious plan for Central Asia, covering infrastructure development and trade expansion, taking on a new leadership role in a region traditionally under Russia’s influence.
China is ready to coordinate development strategies with Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, and to support the modernization of all these countries.
