The adoption of the Declaration “On the State Sovereignty of the Kazakh SSR” on 25 October 1990 constituted a pivotal historical step in the process of acquiring independence. The Declaration provided the Republic with the legal capacity to act as an autonomous subject of international relations, to define its foreign policy in accordance with its own interests, and to independently determine matters of foreign economic activity.

     This stage was marked by a rapid rise in national self-consciousness among the peoples of the Union republics, as well as by the radicalization of activities undertaken by various political parties, public organizations, and movements across all Union republics of the former USSR.

     In October 2022, speaking at the solemn ceremony of conferring state awards and prizes, the Head of State Kassym-Jomart Tokayev emphasized that the Kazakh people had been moving along the sacred path toward sovereignty for many years. In his words: “The Declaration on the State Sovereignty of Kazakhstan opened the way to our sacred Independence. Therefore, this document is of historical significance. Today we are marking Republic Day in a renewed manner, having granted it the status of a national holiday. I am confident that this initiative will receive broad support in society and will become a good tradition. Republic Day is a momentous holiday intended to uplift the spirit of the people, strengthen statehood, and reinforce our unity and solidarity” [1].

      According to K.–J. Tokayev: “The Declaration of Sovereignty is a triumph of courage and diplomacy, reason and patience. Very soon we felt the force of this historic document. We renewed the foundations of society and aspired to new heights. Having overcome a difficult transitional period, Kazakhstan embarked on the path of building a strong statehood” [1].

     The Declaration on State Sovereignty proclaimed the supremacy of the Constitution of the Kazakh SSR and the laws adopted on the territory of Kazakhstan, as well as the Republic’s right to suspend the effect of Union-wide acts that infringed upon its sovereign rights. It was from this Declaration that the Republic effectively began to exercise its state sovereignty in practice.

      While remaining within the USSR, Kazakhstan possessed sovereignty only in a formal-legal sense and, in fact, did not possess it substantively; accordingly, it could not function as a genuine subject of international law. The Declaration of 25 October 1990 affirmed the indivisibility and inviolability of the territory of Kazakhstan, and defined the country as a subject of international law. The proclamation of the Republic’s exclusive ownership of all natural resources, as well as of its economic, scientific, and technical potential, enabled Kazakhstan to pursue an independent economic policy.

      For the first time, the Declaration rejected a class-based approach to defining the social foundations of the state and proclaimed the national character of statehood. The Declaration became the fundamental legislative act from which began the subsequent development of the state–legal system of the country in the direction of formalizing full state independence. Its historical significance lies in the fact that it endowed the Republic’s sovereignty with real content, recalled the historically rooted statehood of Kazakhstan with its centuries-long history, emphasized the principle of territorial integrity, and proclaimed the separation of powers as the core principle underpinning the functioning of the Republic as a democratic and law-governed state.

       Thus, in the dynamic year of 1990, internal forces were awakened within Kazakhstani society which soon led to the formation of a new independent state — the Republic of Kazakhstan. The attainment of independence became possible only after the collapse of the totalitarian Soviet regime. As is well known, by the late 1980s and early 1990s the political and economic crisis in the USSR had reached its apex. The decrepit and functionally incapacitated Soviet state machinery — inherited by the last leader of the Union and architect of perestroika, Mikhail Gorbachev — began to fail repeatedly. The USSR was undergoing a profound systemic crisis.

     Political movements advocating independence and withdrawal from the USSR began to emerge across the Union republics. The attempts by the Soviet leadership to deploy force — in Tbilisi (1989), Baku (1990), and Vilnius (1991) — had the opposite effect: protests multiplied and became increasingly massive. The dramatic events of those years constituted a bitter, yet important, historical experience. Recognizing the causes of the rapid disintegration of a once powerful state and analyzing the tactical mistakes of the central leadership enabled us to draw essential lessons from what was unfolding [2].

     The political reforms undertaken in the USSR in the late 1980s and early 1990s — including the proclamation of a course towards building a socialist rule-of-law state, the establishment of Soviet parliamentarianism, the convocation of a new supreme representative body (the Congress of People’s Deputies), the introduction of the Presidency of the USSR, and the formation of multiparty politics — resulted in the democratization of society and rendered inevitable the re-emergence of the “national question”, previously considered to have been “resolved”. Accelerated internationalization without regard for national interests led to grave miscalculations in nationalities policy.

     On 18 May 1989, Lithuania became the first of the Soviet republics to adopt a Declaration of Sovereignty. By the summer of 1991 the majority of the Union republics had enacted sovereignty laws, compelling the central authorities to accelerate work on a new Union Treaty. The signing of such a treaty would not only have preserved a single state, but also would have entailed a transition to a genuinely federal structure.

      On 17 March 1991, a referendum was held on the question of whether the USSR should continue to exist and, if so, in what form. The majority of those who participated voted in favor of preserving the USSR. The Baltic republics, Moldova, Georgia, and Armenia did not take part in the vote. In September, the Extraordinary Congress of People’s Deputies of the USSR recognized the independence of the Baltic republics. The leaders of seven republics — Russia, Belarus, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan — declared their intention to form a new interstate entity, the Union of Sovereign States (USS). However, this plan was not realized.

      On 8 December 1991, in the Belovezh Forest near Brest, the leaders of Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus signed an agreement on the establishment of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). The agreement stated that the USSR, as a subject of international law, ceased to exist. On 21 December 1991, in Almaty, the leaders of eleven states (with the exception of Georgia) signed the Declaration on the final termination of the USSR and the formation of the CIS. On 25 December 1991, Mikhail Gorbachev announced his resignation from the post of President of the USSR.

    Thus, the year 1991 was marked by epoch-making events: the failure of a coup attempt, the dissolution of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, and the collapse of the empire known as the USSR.

     By the end of 1991, a favorable political environment had formed in Kazakhstan for the acquisition of independence. The attempted coup of August 1991, the dissolution of the USSR, the establishment of the Commonwealth of Independent States, and the emergence of the former Union republics as independent states accelerated the adoption of the Law on the Independence of Kazakhstan. Following the August coup, the Communist Party was dissolved in Kazakhstan, and the Republic in fact began to act independently. President of the USSR M. Gorbachev could not prevent the centrifugal tendencies, and his power was weakening by the day.

      On 1 December 1991, Kazakhstan held its first nation-wide presidential election, and on 10 December the Law “On Changing the Name of the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic” was adopted, establishing the new name — the Republic of Kazakhstan. On 16 December 1991, the Law “On the State Independence of the Republic of Kazakhstan” proclaimed Kazakhstan an independent state with an autonomous system of public administration, an independent economic system, its own armed forces, and unified citizenship. From that moment, a new epoch began in the life of Kazakhstan — an era of independent development enabling the full realization of the interests and aspirations of the peoples inhabiting the country [3].

      The Kazakh people reached independence after two and a half centuries of struggle. During this period, Kazakhs rose in revolt against tsarist colonizers and the command-administrative system of the totalitarian regime nearly 400 times. In the struggle for independence, the Kazakh people endured famine, imprisonment in concentration camps, forced displacement beyond their homeland, and the loss of their most distinguished representatives. The proclamation of state independence of the Republic of Kazakhstan became a momentous event in the history of the Kazakh nation. Kazakhstan became an equal member of the international community. The Kazakh people were freed from the threat of extinction as a nation.

      Independent Kazakhstan was founded as a democratic and law-governed state. As Kazakhstan consolidated itself as a sovereign country, the emergence of multiparty politics and the formation of public associations became a natural phenomenon in societal development. The mass media were liberated from ideological control and censorship.

     Kazakhstan’s independence also possessed significant international implications. At the juncture between Eastern Europe and Western Asia, a new democratic state emerged. Soon after, many leading countries of the world recognized Kazakhstan as an independent state. Since March 1992, the Republic of Kazakhstan has been a full-fledged member of the United Nations. The Republic assumed obligations to strictly comply with the Charter of the Organization.

      Conditions were created for the revival and development of culture, traditions, and language, as well as for the formation and growth of the national intelligentsia. Kazakhs who had been forced to leave the country during the years of Bolshevik rule obtained the possibility to return to their historical homeland.

      “State independence is not merely a declaration. Building genuine independence is a matter of daily laborious effort and a calibrated, consistent policy. We shall preserve ourselves as a nation in the global world only by possessing a strong and independent state. We must adhere firmly to this immutable truth. ‘Independence is above all!’ — these words must become our guiding motto,” emphasized the Head of State K.–J. Tokayev [4].

      Kazakhstan consistently pursues a strategic course toward deep and effective participation in the existing integration structures — the UN, CIS, EAEU, SCO, CSTO, OSCE, CICA, ECO — and develops bilateral cooperation with the countries of Europe, Asia, and the Americas. This ensures freedom of maneuver in international relations and opens opportunities for integration into the global economic and political order.

    The activities of Kazakh representatives within UN bodies have been expanding. Kazakhstan has become a member of the UN Committee on Information and of the UN General Assembly Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, and closely cooperates with the International Narcotics Control Board.

      Kazakhstan’s accession to major monetary and financial institutions — the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the WTO, and others — has been of principal importance. The Republic’s participation in regional organizations such as the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Islamic Development Bank (IDB), the European Energy Charter, and others likewise underscores the significance of regional engagement.

       In 2010, Kazakhstan became the first state within the CIS to chair the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). Eleven years later, the subsequent Summit of the Heads of State and Government of OSCE member countries was held in the capital of Kazakhstan, where a document of particular historical importance — the Astana Declaration — was adopted.

       Among the most significant and large-scale international events was the specialized international exhibition EXPO-2017. Kazakhstan became the first country in the CIS to host this exhibition. A total of 115 countries and 22 international organizations participated. Approximately four million people visited the exhibition, including half a million foreign visitors. The theme of the exhibition was “green energy.”

      Kazakhstan’s peacekeeping and anti-nuclear activity received well-deserved international recognition in 2017, when the state became a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council for the period up to 2019.

        Since July 2018, the Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC), located within the EXPO exhibition complex, began its operations. The Centre has become a financial gateway for attracting investment capital.

       Throughout the years of independence, eight Congresses of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions have been held in Astana. The Congress is an international forum convened in Kazakhstan since 2003 to facilitate interreligious dialogue and mutual understanding. Its principal objectives are the affirmation of peace, harmony, and tolerance, as well as the prevention of the instrumentalization of religion for the incitement of conflict. The 8th Congress was held in Astana on 17–18 September 2025. This, without doubt, is a tangible achievement.

        The fact that our capital is located in the geographical center of the Eurasian continent — from which roads lead in all four directions — is not accidental. Likewise, Kazakhstan is open to everything best that human civilization has accumulated. Independence was the dream of our ancestors. They perceived it as freedom of judgment and freedom of conscious action. For contemporaries, the independence of our country consists of the individual rights and freedoms of each of the 20 million citizens.

                          References:   

1. Tokayev, K.K. “The Declaration of Sovereignty — a Triumph of Courage and Diplomacy, Reason and Patience.” Kazakhstanskaya Pravda, 22 October 2022.
2. Nazarbayev, N.A. The Era of Independence. Astana, 2017. 508 p
3. Kuzembayuly, A. & Abil, E.A. History of Kazakhstan. A University Textbook. Kostanay, 2006. p. 263.
4. Tokayev, K.K. “Independence Above All.” Kazakhstanskaya Pravda, 6 January 2021.