World News | Kazakh Leader Meets Putin in First Post-election Trip Abroad
Get latest articles and stories on World at LatestLY. Kazakhstan's leader met with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday, a week after winning a new seven-year term by a landslide in a snap election.
Moscow, Nov 28 (AP) Kazakhstan's leader met with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday, a week after winning a new seven-year term by a landslide in a snap election.
Kazakhstan is a significant Russian ally, sharing a 7,600-kilometre (4,750-mile) border. But President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has kept his distance from Moscow amid the conflict in Ukraine, notably declining this summer to recognise the Kremlin's declaration of separatist Ukraine regions as sovereign states.
Tokayev also has sought to reduce the influence of his Russia-friendly authoritarian predecessor Nursultan Nazarbayev, who ruled for three decades.
Nazarbayev resigned in 2019, but had retained significant clout as head of the national security council until Tokayev removed him from the post this year.
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In comments at the start of the leaders' meeting, Tokayev said his first visit abroad since he won a new term with more than 80 per cent of the vote has “deep political significance. Of course, there is definitely a certain symbolism in this visit”.
Putin said the countries have a “joint desire to develop our relations precisely in the capacity in which they have developed and will, of course, develop in the future”. (AP)
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)