Lecture
Kazakhstan at the Crossroads of Europe and Asia: Security and Power in the New Eurasia
- Date
- Tuesday 1 December 2026
- Time
- Address
-
Spui Campus
Spui 5
2511 BL The Hague - Room
- 1B.12
Kazakhstan’s evolving foreign policy, regional security, and its role in the emerging Eurasian order
Kazakhstan sits at the crossroads of Europe and Asia—and increasingly at the center of a changing geopolitical landscape. As competition and connectivity across Eurasia intensify, how is Kazakhstan navigating relations with Russia, China, Europe, and other major partners while safeguarding its own strategic interests?
Bringing together diplomatic and academic perspectives, this event examines Kazakhstan’s evolving foreign policy, regional security, and its role in the emerging Eurasian order. The discussion will be particularly relevant to students, researchers, policymakers, and anyone interested in geopolitics, Central Asian security, and international affairs.
Speakers
Keynote Speaker
- H.E. Akan Rakhmetullin — Ambassador of the Republic of Kazakhstan to the Kingdom of the Netherlands and Permanent Representative to the OPCW. A senior Kazakh diplomat, he previously served as First Deputy Foreign Minister and as Kazakhstan’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York.
Panelists
- Dr. Morena Skalamera — Assistant Professor at Leiden University’s Institute for History. Her research focuses on the political economy and geopolitics of energy and decarbonization, with particular expertise on Russia, Central Asia, and the wider post-Soviet space.
- Tony van der Togt — Senior Associate Fellow at the Clingendael Russia and Eastern Europe Centre and PhD candidate and guest researcher at Leiden University. A former Dutch diplomat with extensive experience in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, including a posting in Almaty, he specializes in Russia, Eurasia, and European relations with the region.
- Dr. Agha Bayramov — Assistant Professor of International Relations at the University of Groningen. His research focuses on energy security, geopolitics, the Caspian Sea region, infrastructure politics, and security and cooperation in Eurasia.
Moderator
- Richard Ghiasy — Lecturer at Leiden University. His work focuses on geopolitics, international order, China, India, and the Indo-Pacific, and he has advised governments and international institutions across Europe and Asia.
Registration (required)
Sign up for this event!Organisation
Institute of Political Science, cluster Security and Legitimacy