Kazakh President sees no ground for pessimism over ties with Moscow

• 

There are no reasons for pessimism regarding the future of cooperation between Kazakhstan and Russia, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said on Friday from Sochi, where he is on a work trip.

"In general, there is every reason to be satisfied with the way our cooperation is developing. I agree with you in this regard, we are united by a common border - the longest land border in the world, [...] a completely delimited border" Tokayev said.

Therefore, he explained during a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, "there are no grounds for making pessimistic forecasts regarding the future of our cooperation."

The Kazakh president stressed that he was counting on President Putin's participation in the upcoming CIS summit.

"This year, Kazakhstan chairs the CIS, in October there will be a summit of the Commonwealth of Independent States, we very much count on your personal participation," he told his Russian counterpart.

"Russia plays an important role in the CIS, this is indeed one of the priority areas of our mutual cooperation in the international format," he added.

Additionally, he shed light on cooperation within the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), saying: "Our ministries and departments and the intergovernmental commission are working actively. The ministries of foreign affairs and defense are preparing various events together, including joint exercises within the framework of the CSTO, and so on."

The armed forces of Algeria, Egypt, Kazakhstan, and Pakistan will be participating in the Southern Military District's joint exercises in 2022, which will be held with the Russian armed forces in Algeria.

The first Russian-Algerian drills took place in North Ossetia in October 2021, where 200 servicemen participated in addition to 40 units of combat and special equipment involved. 

Nur-Sultan asserting cooperation with Russia comes after the Kazakh finance ministry unveiled in July a draft regulation to track the movement of goods from Kazakhstan to Russia. This comes with a possibility that the country would disallow the export of goods that were prohibited by the country of origin from being delivered to Russia, according to an official document published online.  

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov responded shortly, saying Russia and Kazakhstan were friendly countries that are in constant contact, and no decisions have been made yet on Kazakhstan's part to support the sanctions against Moscow. 

The Kazakh Finance Ministry has previously made rules for accounting for the movement of goods exported to Russia while raising the possibility that they will refuse to permit the export of sanctioned goods.