Kazakhstan rejects state union with Russia

Dhe Central Asian Republic of Kazakhstan has been integrated into a confederation of states modeled on the Union between Russia and Belarus rejected. “Kazakhstan has no intention of forming or joining a state union,” President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev’s spokesman wrote on Facebook on Friday.

Tokayev At a regional summit this week, he spoke of a “problem” with regard to the proximity between Belarus and Russia, which he wanted to discuss with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarusian ruler Alexandr Lukashenko.

“The formula ‘two countries – one state’ (between Russia and Belarus) creates a unique precedent with a single political, legal, military, economic, monetary, cultural and humanitarian space,” Tokayev said. “Even nuclear weapons are now being shared,” added the Kazakh President. Lukashenko had announced on Thursday that the transfer of Russian nuclear weapons to Belarus had now begun.

Kazakhstan is an economic heavyweight in Central Asia

Since the protests in Belarus in the summer of 2020 and the start of the Ukraine war last year, Moscow and Minsk deepened their alliance. The protests against Lukashenko’s controversial re-election in 2020 were suppressed with Moscow’s approval. After that, both states concluded new agreements on economic and military cooperation.

Kazakhstan is an economic heavyweight in Central Asia. The country is a close ally of Russia, with whom it forms various military and economic alliances; the resource-rich country is also interesting for China, the West and Turkey. However, the West accuses the Kazakh leadership of helping Moscow to circumvent the sanctions imposed because of the Ukraine war.