Kazakh Deputy Energy Minister Sungat Yesimkhanov said Kazakhstan may stop importing electricity from Russia in 2027 if planned domestic power facilities are commissioned by the end of 2026 or early 2027, TASS reported on May 5.

Yesimkhanov said Kazakhstan's electricity deficit in 2026 would be about 1 billion kilowatt-hours to 1.2 billion kWh, down from 2.1 billion kWh in 2024, with Russian imports covering the remaining gap this year. Although that deficit represents only a small share of national consumption, the import need remains operationally important because Kazakhstan's shortfalls are concentrated during peak demand periods and in a fragmented grid where regional bottlenecks, including the western zone's current isolation from the main national grid, make it harder to deliver replacement capacity where it is needed.