Putin will visit Kazakhstan next week

Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit Kazakhstan next week, VGTRK journalist Pavel Zarubin said in the TV program “Moscow. Kremlin. Putin.”

The Russian leader will meet with his Kazakh counterpart Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. The Kremlin has not officially announced the president’s plans for the coming week.

The last time negotiations between the presidents of the two countries took place on October 7 at Putin’s residence in Novo-Ogarevo. Then they, together with the President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev, launched the supply of Russian gas to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.

Putin noted that the country is open to international cooperation in the energy sector. According to him, the Russian Federation is aimed at meeting the fuel needs of partners from Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, as well as from other interested states.

On November 1, French President Emmanuel Macron arrived in Kazakhstan on an official visit and held talks with Tokayev. During negotiations in a narrow format, Macron and Tokayev discussed the prospects for the Kazakh-French strategic partnership, strengthening political dialogue, as well as the development of cooperation, including the areas of trade, energy, investment, etc.

As Bloomberg wrote, citing sources, Macron’s goal was to “increase France’s energy security,” since the Central Asian countries are rich in uranium. It was noted that Paris was interested in such cooperation after the July coup in the second largest importer of uranium for France – Niger (supplied 1,440 tons to the French in 2022). According to Euroatom, Kazakhstan became the largest supplier of uranium to France (2,659 tons), and Uzbekistan took fifth place with 918 tons.

The agency’s interlocutors called another intention of the French president the desire to reduce the dependence of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan on Moscow.

The visit of the French President did not take place without the consent of the US authorities, says political scientist and specialist on Central Asia Mars Sariev. Washington, he said, wants to either alienate Kazakhstan from Russia or destabilize the internal political situation in the republic in order to create problems for Russia at its borders. Therefore, security and logistics issues may become the focus of the negotiations between Putin and Tokayev.

“Outwardly, Astana distances itself from Moscow. Nevertheless, Tokayev is an experienced politician, I think he understands that only Russia and China can act as guarantors of security and stability,” the expert noted.

The day after Macron’s visit, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban visited Kazakhstan. He arrived in the republic with the words “it’s always nice to return home,” to which Tokayev noted that Orban came to the “homeland of his ancestors” because he is a Kypshak (Turkic people). The Prime Minister and the President discussed cooperation in the trade, economic, investment, cultural and humanitarian spheres.

Orban noted that Hungary receives oil “not only from Russia, but also from Kazakhstan,” although the volume of supplies from the republic is still “small.” He noted that economic ties between Hungary and Kazakhstan, which nine years ago set a course for strategic partnership, continue to strengthen.

The Kremlin noted that Kazakhstan’s development of relations with European countries is a normal process, and Moscow has its own relations with Astana, which it values.