Moscow, Jul 25 (EFE).- Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev called on Saturday for a freeze in the war in Ukraine during a meeting with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin.
“Perhaps the time has come to freeze this conflict and return to an ‘Istanbul Formula 2.0’ given that significant results were achieved there,” Tokayev told Putin during a meeting in the Russian city of Omsk.
The Kazakh leader, according to the Interfax news agency, added that any freezing of hostilities should be achieved “naturally, under the guarantees of the great powers, including Russia.”
All of this is necessary to “move toward a long-awaited peace,” he said.
Tokayev also expressed Kazakhstan’s respect for the Ukrainian people and their culture.
He further noted that the Russia-Ukraine war has an interstate character that is difficult to fully understand from the outside.
“The nature of this conflict is not entirely clear to many, including us. For example, if it is a conflict such as the frozen conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia, the essence and origins of that conflict are perfectly clear to us, as they go back to history. But here, it is very difficult to understand,” he said.
Tokayev also reaffirmed Kazakhstan’s commitment to strategic cooperation with neighboring Russia, which he described as a “great country” with a “great people.”
In 2022, several months after the start of Russia’s military operation in Ukraine, the Kazakh leader stated in the presence of Putin that Astana would never recognize the independence of the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk annexed by Russia. EFE