The Russians live mostly in the north but many are currently moving back to Russia. The Russian influence has helped Kazakhstan to have a better economy. Under the Soviet's, Kazakhstan became a center for space exploration and nuclear testing which is done in the northern, Russian part of the country. The Virgin Lands are in Kazakhstan. They were a project by the Soviet Union to develop lands in West Siberia for agriculture.
Wheat is the most popular agricultural product.
Kazakhstan is the largest of the Central Asian countries and it also has the most resources. There are deposits of coal and iron ore. Oil is a big producer and it's found mostly by the Caspian Sea. The agriculture in Uzbekistan is irrigated by water from rivers normally flowing into the Aral Sea. The Aral Sea disaster left the water dangerously polluted with high cancer rates.