Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, who is on a state visit to Moscow, and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a declaration on 12 November on the transition of bilateral relations to the level of comprehensive strategic partnership and alliance. The signing ceremony took place in the Kremlin after talks between the two leaders, Radio Liberty’s Azattic Regional Service reported.
Tokayev called the signing of the document one of the main goals of his visit to Moscow, and the visit itself a major event for him this year. He said the document “will open a new era in bilateral ties, confirm an unprecedented level of mutual trust and joint readiness for closer work in all areas.”
Putin said Astana and Moscow are “close partners, friends and reliable allies for each other.”
Tokayev arrived in the Russian capital a week after travelling to Washington, where he and the presidents of four Central Asian countries met with United States President Donald Trump.
The U.S. has shown interest in mineral resources and deepening co-operation with the region, where Russia and China have a strong presence. For the Central Asian states, the meeting in Washington was, according to observers, an opportunity to diversify foreign ties and continue balancing relations with the great powers.
At the same time, Astana is keen to maintain ties with Moscow, on which it depends economically and geopolitically. Kazakhstan is a member of the Eurasian Economic Union (its members are, in addition to Russia and Kazakhstan, Armenia, Belarus and Kyrgyzstan) and the Collective Security Treaty Organisation.
Prior to the signing of the new declaration in the Kremlin, the Treaty of Good Neighbourliness and Union, updated in 2020, was in force between the states. In 1998, the parties signed a declaration “on eternal friendship and alliance oriented to the XXI century”. In 1992 a treaty “on friendship, co-operation and mutual assistance” was signed.
After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Kazakhstan did not condemn the aggression of the neighbouring state with which it shares the longest land border in the world, but did not support open war. Astana does not recognise the Ukrainian lands seized by Russia as part of the Russian Federation.