Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev will travel to Russia for a state visit on Tuesday, a few days after joining other Central Asian leaders for a summit with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House.
Russian President Vladimir Putin invited Tokayev for the November 11-12 visit and the two leaders will discuss “the strategic partnership and allied relationship” between their two countries, the Kremlin said.
“Kazakhstan is a special, privileged partner of Russia, a very important country and state for us,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday, in remarks that were reported by Russia’s state-run TASS news agency. Separately, Kazakhstan’s presidency quoted Tokayev as saying Russia is a leader in terms of the pace and volume of investment in the Central Asian country’s economy.
While Russia and Kazakhstan share a long land border and have a close trade relationship, deals worth billions of dollars and involving American companies were announced at the U.S.-Central Asia summit in Washington, D.C. on November 6. The meeting reflected the efforts of Central Asian countries to balance their international relationships, particularly with Russia and China on the one hand, and rival Western countries on the other.
At the White House meeting, Tokayev said Trump´s “wise and bold policy” should be supported worldwide and that the American president had boosted the role of the United States “as a pillar of international stability.”
The early months of Trump’s second term in office were marked by conciliatory gestures by the United States toward Russia, alarming supporters of Ukraine, which is now in its fourth year of war with invading Russian forces. But the outreach faltered and U.S.-Russian tensions remain over Ukraine, nuclear arms and Western sanctions on Moscow.
