event

Atomic Steppe: How Kazakhstan Gave Up the Bomb

Tue. February 15th, 2022
Live Online

Kazakhstan remains an important case study of nuclear reversal, yet most accounts of this event merely highlight the return of the nuclear weapons from Kazakh territory to Russia as the Soviet Union dissolved. Left out are the human dimensions of the story—the ethnic Kazakhs living around Semipalatinsk and impacted by the Soviet nuclear program; the growing protest movement during the 1980s to halt nuclear testing; and the senior officials navigating complex international politics to garner U.S. security guarantees while agreeing to give up nuclear weapons.

Join us for a special event featuring Togzhan Kassenova on her book Atomic Steppe—a fascinating and compelling new look at Kazakhstan’s nuclear history that artfully weaves together first-hand stories and archival data into a rich accounting of a tumultuous period. She will be joined in conversation by William Courtney, the first U.S. ambassador to Kazakhstan. George Perkovich will moderate.

Carnegie does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.
event speakers
Togzhan Kassenova

Togzhan Kassenova

Nonresident Fellow, Nuclear Policy Program

Kassenova is a nonresident fellow in the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment.

William Courtney

Courtney is an adjunct senior fellow at RAND Corporation. He was the first U.S. ambassador to Kazakhstan.

George Perkovich

Japan Chair for a World Without Nuclear Weapons, Vice President for Studies

George Perkovich is the Japan chair for a world without nuclear weapons and vice president for studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, overseeing the Nuclear Policy Program and the Technology and International Affairs Program. He works primarily on nuclear strategy and nonproliferation issues, and security dilemmas among the United States, its allies, and their nuclear-armed adversaries.