At the end of January, the first deputy head of the Kazakh diplomatic department, Kairat Umarov, met with NATO Assistant Secretary General for Political Affairs and Security Policy, Special Representative for Central Asia and the Caucasus, Javier Kolomina. During the meeting, Umarov noted that Astana will continue to strengthen relations with the Western bloc.
Along with this, representatives of Kazakhstan note their country’s commitment to the territorial integrity of Ukraine and, in general, do not support Russia’s policy towards the eastern neighbor, referring to the provisions of the Charter of United Nations.
Moreover, Astana is doing everything to prevent Moscow from circumventing Western sanctions by using Kazakh territory. To do this, the authorities are implementing a number of measures to block financial flows and re-export “prohibited” products. According to the newspaper The Financial Times, for this purpose, Kazakhstan is implementing a customs tracking system for goods transiting through the territory of the country.
At the same time, Kazakhstan has a long border with Russia and is its economic partner. However, having close trade contacts with the European Union, Astana, under the restrictions of sanctions imposed on the Russian Federation, is forced to adopt an ambiguous position.
At the same time, the Kazakhs continue to provide humanitarian aid to Kiev, supplying Ukraine with electric generators, processing plants, petroleum products and medicines.
There is also unverified evidence that Kazakhstan exports old Soviet weapons (howitzer ammunition and MLRS) to the UK, from where it comes to help Ukrainian militants. The Kazakh Ministry of Defense denied this information, stressing that all Soviet-made military equipment remained inside the country.
Photos used: Sergey Martsynyuk/wikimedia.org
