NewsTracker Answers for week of Jan. 10, 2022

Q: After its president asked Kazakhstan’s military allies for help to quell sweeping anti-government protests last week, Russian troops landed along with soldiers from four other nations which were also part of the former Soviet Union. Where is Kazakhstan, which was the second-largest of the old Soviet republics?

Circle the area on this map

Q: While Kazakhstan is a member of the Russian-led military alliance, other nations that were once part of the Soviet Union have opposed Russia. Russia recently massed 100,000 troops along its border with what nation that was once ruled by the Russian-dominated Soviet Union?

A. Armenia

B. Belarus

C. Kyrgyzstan

D. Ukraine

D. After a pro-Russian president in Ukraine was ousted in 2014, relations between the nations became hostile. Russian-backed forces have seized Ukrainian territory, and Ukraine now fears a full-scale invasion. Armenia, Belarus and Kyrgyzstan along with Kazakhstan and Tajikistan are members of the Russian-led military alliance.

Q: Russian leaders vowed to prevent Ukraine’s efforts to join the NATO military alliance among 28 European nations, the United States and Canada. What nation that was part of the former Soviet Union has already joined NATO?

A. Estonia

B. Lithuania

C. Latvia

D. All of the above

D. The three small nations on the Baltic Sea joined NATO in 2004 to help ensure they could maintain their independence from Russia. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1988-1991, NATO expanded into many areas once under Soviet control. Russian President Vladimir Putin, a former member of the KGB Soviet spy agency, has demanded that NATO stop expanding into Russia’s “sphere of influence.”

Q: The unrest in Kazakhstan began over a fuel price hike in an oil town and quickly swept the whole country before the nation’s autocratic president turned to Russia’s Putin for help. Putin also supported an autocratic leader facing widespread protests in what other allied nation?

A. Armenia

B. Belarus

C. Kyrgyzstan

D. Tajikistan

B. Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko, often referred to as Europe's last dictator, faced mass street protests in August 2020, demanding that he step down after an election that the opposition said was rigged. Putin backed Lukashenko as he cracked down severely on his opposition.

Q: Russia is the biggest supplier of Kazakhstan’s imports. What nation is the biggest buyer of Kazakhstan’s exports?

A. China

B. Germany

C. Russia

D. United States

A. Kazakhstan’s eastern neighbor China is the biggest market for Kazakh oil and natural gas. U.S. oil companies help Kazakhstan extract its natural riches, but the landlocked country is dependent on Russia to deliver its oil and natural gas to European markets like Germany.