William T. Vollmann's Poor People described the Tengiz oil field in this country, where many women were sent to the Alzhir gulag camp.
The dismissal of a politician from this modern-day country led to the Jeltoqsan riots. This country spent three years as the Alash Autonomy. A plane crash was originally given as the reason for Mitrofan Nedelin's death, rather than an explosion in this modern-day country that was caused by the failure of an R-16. William T. Vollmann's Poor People described the Tengiz oil field in this country, where many women were sent to the Alzhir gulag camp. A plan to cultivate land in its north was called the Virgin Lands Campaign. Since 1989, this location of the Baikonur Cosmodrome has been led by Nursultan Nazarbayev, who moved its capital in 1997 from Almaty. For 10 points, name this former Soviet Republic that, along with Uzbekistan, has suffered from the shrinking of the Aral Sea.
The dismissal of a politician from this modern-day country led to the Jeltoqsan riots.
Republic of Kazakhstan [or Qazaqstan Respublikasy]