Tokayev considered it unnecessary for Kazakhstan to join the Union State

Kazakhstan does not need to join the Union State. This was stated by the President of the Republic, Kassym-Zhomart Tokayev, commenting on the words of his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko, who had previously proposed such a step to Astana.

“I appreciated his (Lukashenko’s) joke. I think that there is no need for this, since there are other integration associations, first of all, the Eurasian Economic Union,” Tokayev said (quote by Tengri News).

Kazakhstan, according to Tokayev, also does not need nuclear weapons, since the country has joined the agreements on non-proliferation and the prohibition of nuclear weapons tests.

“We remain committed to our commitments under these international instruments,” he added.

Earlier, at the plenary session of the II Eurasian Economic Forum, Tokayev announced the “phenomenon” of the Union State of Russia and Belarus in the structure of the EAEU and the presence of “one nuclear weapon for two.” In this regard, the Kazakh leader proposed to discuss the problem of different levels of integration of countries. Integration within the EAEU should be only economic, Tokayev added.

Commenting on the words of Tokayev, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko urged Kazakhstan to join the Union State, then nuclear weapons will be, in his words, “at all.”

The Kremlin called the Union State of Russia and Belarus “an order of magnitude more advanced integration” than the EAEU. According to the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov, such a “unique situation” should be taken into account.

Defense Ministers of Russia and Belarus Sergei Shoigu and Viktor Khrenin on May 25 signed documents defining the procedure for keeping Russian nuclear weapons in a special storage facility on the territory of the republic. On the same day, Lukashenka announced that “the transfer of nuclear weapons” to the territory of his country has begun.