Staff at the Committee for Veterinary Control and Supervision (CVCS) of the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) were tasked overnight with preparing answers to pressing questions for the vice-minister. The list included the detentions of veterinary inspection staff in Shymkent and the West Kazakhstan Region (WKR), inspectors' complaints about cut salaries and Russian restrictions on Kazakh ice cream. The messages with the questions were later deleted from the work chat.
WHAT IS KNOWN ABOUT THE CORRESPONDENCE
FBK has obtained screenshots of the "CVCS" work chat in a messaging app. According to a source, on the evening of 2 November 2026, an employee of the agency's press service forwarded a list of questions to the chat and asked colleagues to prepare answers.
The forwarded message stated that the information needed to be gathered for "VM EK" by 10:00 the following day. In all likelihood, this refers to Vice-Minister of Agriculture Yermek Kenzhekhanuly, the only current deputy minister with those initials. Which event the answers were being prepared for is not specified in the correspondence.
Later, all of the employee's messages in the chat were deleted.
WHAT QUESTIONS WERE BEING PREPARED FOR THE VICE-MINISTER
The list consists of five points in the Kazakh language. The first concerns veterinary stations: what condition they are in, how many more will be built and how many are needed in total.
The second question states that local specialists consider the standard medicines approved by the committee to be ineffective. The authors of the question ask why treatment methods widely used among the public are not being introduced.
The third point concerns complaints from veterinary inspection specialists in Almaty and Pavlodar: their salaries have been cut and they are not being allowed to take leave. FBK found no public reports of these complaints. If you can tell us about the situation, write to the editorial team's anonymous bot.
The fourth point concerns the detentions of inspection staff in Shymkent and the WKR. The fifth concerns how saiga meat is inspected, how much it costs and to what extent its processing meets requirements.
In a separate message, a question was forwarded to the chat about Russian restrictions on ice cream from Shin-Line.
WHAT IS KNOWN ABOUT THE DETENTIONS IN SHYMKENT AND THE WKR
FBK has written about both cases. In June, the head of the veterinary inspection in the WKR was detained on suspicion of corruption.
In October, we learned that the National Security Committee (NSC) is conducting a pre-trial investigation following reports of the detention of the head and deputy head of the CVCS territorial inspection for Shymkent. The NSC did not disclose further details, citing Part 1 of Article 201 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
WHAT HAPPENED WITH SHIN-LINE ICE CREAM
On 30 September 2026, Russia's Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance (Rosselkhoznadzor) asked the CVCS to suspend veterinary certification of ice cream from three facilities of Shin-Line LLP from 1 October. The Russian agency stated that it had requested information about these sites but had received no response.
The restriction remains in force until the requested information is provided and Russian specialists carry out an inspection. According to the MoA, Shin-Line accounts for around 50% of the domestic ice cream market and up to 95% of Kazakhstan's ice cream exports. FBK found no reports of the restriction being lifted.
