Astana, Apr 30 (EFE).- Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Thursday during his visit to Kazakhstan that the war in Iran has had negative repercussions on the Caspian Sea region, which is bordered by the three countries.
“The unprovoked aggression by the United States and Israel against Iran has had a very negative impact on the Caspian Sea and its coastline. The Caspian must remain a zone of peace and cooperation,” he said at a press conference in Astana.
Lavrov specifically condemned as “unacceptable” the attacks carried out on March 18 by the U.S.-Israeli coalition against the Iranian port of Anzali, which serves “the commercial and logistical interests of the five Caspian countries,” including Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan.
Russia advocates “a swift end to the crisis in the Persian Gulf and the Middle East through political agreements among all parties involved,” he said.
In addition to discussing the implementation of bilateral agreements, Lavrov arrived in Astana to prepare for Putin’s visit to Kazakhstan at the end of May.
“We reviewed the schedule of upcoming high-level contacts. And we devoted our main attention to the state visit of the president of Russia to Kazakhstan,” Russia’s top diplomat said.
Kazakh-Russian relations
Meanwhile, his Kazakh counterpart, Yermek Kosherbayev, said “The visit will help strengthen political dialogue and raise practical cooperation between our countries to new levels.”
“Russia remains one of our main trading partners. Last year’s trade turnover exceeded $28 billion,” he said.
He noted that the list of joint Russian-Kazakh projects is extensive and covers sectors such as digitalization, nuclear energy, logistics, artificial intelligence, mining, education, and culture.
Kosherbayev added that between 2005 and 2025, Russian investment in Kazakhstan’s economy exceeded $29 billion, while Kazakh businesses invested $9 billion in Russia.
For his part, Lavrov emphasized that Russia is the second-largest trading partner of the Central Asian republic.
“Eighty percent of trade turnover consists of processed goods, not hydrocarbons, which shows the high quality of the trade structure between our countries,” he said.
The Russian foreign minister also thanked his Kazakh counterpart for “his balanced approach” to the events in Ukraine. Moreover, he stressed that Russia is interested in resuming negotiations to end the war, which have been stalled since mid-February. EFE