Absolutely, I find this claim of "created santa" is so silly that it sounds like revisionist history. Kazakhstan, Lithuania and other regions have "Santa" traditions that go back over a hundred years and it is mostly indistinguishable than the "propaganda" version.
Almost all Kazakhs are Sunni Muslims. If you've meant Christian populations like Russians, then I would be interested to see what's special about Russian Kazakhstani's Santa traditions.
I'd also like to see a hundred or more years old Lithuanian Santa version similar to the Unionist one.
This is not to dismiss your claim that this might be revisionist (I'm not sure), but your examples on Kazakhstan and Lithuania lack evidence.
Not an answer, mostly a hint :) But could it be that the folklore of Odin / Wodan came there through the Vikings? The Dutch Sinterklaas is partly based on the Wild Hunt of Odin. Odin might have inspired more civilisations with the same concept.
There are some people that are susceptible to the idea of new information being more canonical than the prior information they were initially exposed to, as opposed to merely an alternate amongst many alternates.
The Netherlands has something called "Sinterklaas". But I think celebrating children and giving presents to them is something that goes back to the very origin of mankind and can be found all over the world.
