>

It seems to be that someone becomes a new North Korea.
Russia is looking to use the Kazakhs as proxies to get its oil to international markets. >

Emboldened by China and also they know they can be next if Ukraine is done. >

Kazakhstan does not love Russia, the leader might but the population has been pushing back pretty hard recently >

Even Tokayev isn't a big fan of Putin.  He just knows he needs Putin's support to maintain power, although he seems to be moving away from authoritarianism, so possibly that will no longer be a consideration for Kazakh leaders in the future.