A report published by the Russian Tsargrad website quoted Western sources as saying that the Kazakh authorities intend - starting next month - to prevent parallel imports to Russia, and not to help Moscow circumvent the sanctions imposed on it, and talked about the West urging Kazakhstan to do so.
Maintaining trade links with Russia and the West at the same time serves Astana's interests, but Western actors want Kazakhstan to choose one side.
He noted that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Kazakhstan earlier this year, a day after Kazakhstan closed its trade office in Moscow. Last September, in a meeting with foreign ministers of Central Asian countries, Blinken stressed the need to comply with sanctions against Russia, followed by the cancellation of their transactions with Russian banks affected by sanctions.
Kazakh Appreciation of U.S. Support
At the end of February, a meeting between Blinken and Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev was not disclosed to the public, but during the press conference that followed, Tokayev expressed his appreciation for the continued and unwavering support provided by the United States to preserve the independence, territorial integrity and sovereignty of his country.
He said that Kazakhstan also received British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, who touched on how to reduce the negative impact of the conflict in Ukraine on Kazakhstan's economy, and look for alternative ways to export all Kazakh products without passing through Russian territory.
Kazakhstan supports Ukraine
During a meeting with Javier Kolomina, NATO Deputy Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs and Security Policy, the Kazakh First Deputy Foreign Minister affirmed Astana's commitment to strengthening relations with the alliance, noting that his country does not support Moscow in the military operation in Ukraine, saying that his country defends the principle of territorial integrity and adheres to the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations, and also talked about his country's assistance to Ukraine by providing oil products, transformers, medicines and power generators.
In a statement to NHK, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Kazakhstan Mukhtar Tloberdi said that his country will not join the sanctions imposed on Russia, but adheres to the principle of not being used by various companies to circumvent sanctions, stressing at the same time the preservation of the current ties between Moscow and Astana.
Kazakhstan's concern
The report stated that Russia's actions inside Ukrainian territory are bothering Kazakhs, which explains why the Kazakh authorities imprisoned Russian social activists in Kazakhstan because of their posts on social networks about the possibility of repeating the Crimean scenario inside Kazakhstan.
The United States has pledged $25 million this year as part of the Central Asian Economic Sustainability Initiative, which explains why Central Asian countries obey Washington, work to win their favor and Kazakhstan's search for alternative ways to export their products.
Useless methods
Regarding Kazakhstan's finding alternative routes beyond Russia, the report says that this method is useless and has incurred many losses.
For its part, Russia hopes that Kazakhstan's fight against parallel imports will be limited to slogans and statements, and continues its transactions, and believes that Kazakhstan can implement all the dictates of the Western agenda and search for "alternative ways" without incurring heavy losses, he said.
He pointed out that Kazakhs are working to overcome economic considerations that prevent their country from following in Ukraine's footsteps, a reality that Moscow overlooks in order not to repeat the Ukrainian scenario.