BERLIN, Sept 29: Kazakhstan will definitely comply with sanctions on Russia, Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said yesterday following talks in Berlin with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
Kazakhstan’s leader noted that his country would not help Russia circumvent Western sanctions imposed over the war in Ukraine, amid suspicions that Moscow is still receiving vital goods via Central Asian nations.
“We have contacts with the relevant organizations to comply with the sanctions regime, and I think there should not be any concerns on the German side about possible actions aimed at circumventing the sanctions regime,” Tokayev said.
Tokayev is in Germany on an official visit and after talks with Scholz, he plans to participate in a summit of Germany and Central Asian presidents.
Besides, he has addressed the Berlin Global Dialogue forum and held a series of meetings with representatives of Germany’s business community.
Astana has not recognized east and southern Ukrainian regions occupied by Moscow as part of Russia.
But the close economic and military ally of Russia, with which it shares a 7,500-kilometer border, has been repeatedly accused of helping its larger neighbor obtain goods in violation of sanctions.
In their 11th sanctions package, the EU sought to crack down on re-exports of sensitive goods by third countries to Russia with a measure allowing it to restrict certain exports to states that don’t cooperate.
At the same time, Western nations have been seeking increasingly to seek a bigger role in Central Asia at a time when some in the region are questioning their long-standing ties with Russia.
