The Saturday before Republic Day brought Kazakhstan no major economic decisions but three stories that will run for a long time. The Ministry of Defence turned the military reform plan approved by the Security Council into concrete promises to conscripts. Astana opened the home World Wrestling Championships, while Almaty lost the main hero of its tennis tournament. Among the neighbours, Kyrgyzstan named a start date for a big construction project on the Naryn on which water in the lower Syr Darya depends.
Below is what follows from all this and what to watch in the coming days.
The army: from a Security Council decision to a conscript's timetable
Three days ago the Security Council approved the military reform plan, and the main point then was one: conscript service is split into two halves, with the overall term remaining 12 months. On Saturday the Ministry of Defence filled the scheme with content. At the training centre a recruit is promised not only drill and physical training but also languages, skills in working with artificial intelligence and a civilian trade. This changes the meaning of the first six months: they are conceived not as a "quarantine" before the unit but as training that remains useful after the army.
The second novelty is military advisers who do not report to unit commanders. The Security Council had spoken of a commissioner for service members' affairs; the ministry has added people on the ground to help a soldier identify violations. After the deaths of 14 servicemen on the Caspian in September, safety of service became the main question for society, and the reform answers it above all with this measure.
What is still missing: the cost of the reform, the number of training centres and how the advisers will be chosen. The two-stage service pilot will begin only in 2027, as will the unified Zhas Aibyn system of military and patriotic training. The ministry promises to carry out organisational measures by the end of the year; exactly what they include will be the reform's first test.
Sport: a home mat and someone else's final
The World Wrestling Championships in Astana opened with Greco-Roman wrestling, and the first day left Kazakhstan two chances of bronze: the 2025 world champion Aidos Sultangali and Iskhar Kurbayev lost their semi-finals to a Japanese and an Iranian wrestler. The tournament runs until 1 November, about 900 athletes are competing for 30 sets of medals, and for the hosts what matters is not a single medal but the final team standing.
In Almaty, Alexander Bublik, who the day before had beaten Karen Khachanov in a match lasting 2 hours 27 minutes, retired from the semi-final against Daniil Medvedev after the first set: an injury picked up in the quarter-final left him unable to move. The Almaty Open final will be contested by Medvedev and qualifier Nikoloz Basilashvili. On the same day in China, Elena Rybakina plays the final in Ningbo, so Sunday will be a day of finals for Kazakh tennis after all.
There are less conspicuous results too. A twelve-year-old pilot from Uralsk finished fifth among 69 qualified pilots at the drone racing world championship, and a team of schoolchildren came fifth in drone soccer. The JENYS judo club took bronze at the club Champions League in Paris for the second year running.
The holiday and the weather
For Republic Day, San Francisco City Hall and the Transneft building in Moscow were lit up in the colours of Kazakhstan's flag; the latter is a reminder that KEBCO oil exports still go through the Russian system. The holiday itself will be dry, but forecasters promise frosts down to −10 °C in Zhetysu, dust storms in the west and south and an extreme fire hazard in several regions. How real it is was shown by a reed fire near the Kapshagai reservoir, where the wind spread the fire to five seats.
Neighbours: water from the Naryn
Kyrgyzstan's President Sadyr Japarov said that main construction of the Kambarata-1 HPP may start in 2027 or 2028. This is not someone else's news for Kazakhstan: the country takes part in the project together with Uzbekistan, and Japarov himself has explained that the new plant will let the Toktogul HPP work in optimal mode and release water to the neighbours in spring and summer. If construction starts on that timetable, the benefits for irrigation in the lower Syr Darya will not come soon: under an earlier estimate by Kyrgyzstan's Energy Ministry, the first turbine was planned to start eight years after preparatory work began.
What next
25 October: Sultangali's and Kurbayev's bronze bouts after 18:00 and the first finals of the World Wrestling Championships; the Almaty Open final at 14:00 and Rybakina's final in Ningbo. 25–26 October: days off, with night frosts and strong winds in the south and south-east. On 28 October President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev will deliver his State of the Nation Address. On the army reform, the main things to expect by the end of the year are the Defence Ministry's organisational decisions and the results of the comprehensive inspection of the ministry.
