Russian President Putin to meet with Kazak President Tokayev

Russian President Vladimir Putin will arrive in Kazakhstan today to attend the 19th Russia-Kazakhstan Interregional Cooperation Forum in the city of Kostanay.

During his official state visit, Putin will hold high-level talks with his Kazakh counterpart Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, in which the leaders will stress the necessity to further boost bilateral ties and trade relations. Putin’s official state visit comes shortly after France’s recent advances to secure a potential Uranium deal with Astana.

Despite heavy regional cooperation between the two post-Soviet neighbors through the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), Tokayev had initially disallowed any Russian attempt to evade economic sanctions put in place by the West. Therefore, in addition to pulling Astana further away from the West, Moscow’s main objective in this trip is to lobby against Astana’s restrictive approach during the short to medium term. In this framework, Moscow is preparing to offer a “gas union’ deal—which will also include Uzbekistan. This deal is set to increase the transportation volume of Russian natural gas via Astana which aims to boost shipment to the consignees and other regional buyers—such as China. The “gas union” deal will likely convince the Astana government because Astana’s gas output does not cover its domestic needs.