Kazakh president to pay first foreign visit to Russia after reelection

MOSCOW (AA) – Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev will pay his first foreign visit to Russia after his reelection early this week, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has confirmed.

Speaking at a press briefing in Moscow, Peskov said Tokayev will pay an official visit, during which he plans to hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and together with him to address the Russian-Kazakh inter-regional cooperation forum via video-conference.

“This will be a full-scale, very, very important visit for us and for bilateral Russian-Kazakh relations,” he stressed.

In a separate statement, the Kazakh presidential press service confirmed the information, noting that after visiting Russia, Tokayev will also pay a two-day official visit to France.

Turning to remarks by Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy about the “non-military” return of Crimea, Peskov said “such statements once again speak of the unwillingness and inability of the Ukrainian side to be ready to resolve the problem by non-military methods.”

Peskov added that media interpretations, showing Zelenskyy’s words as a desire to start peace talks, are not correct.

Turning to the Azerbaijan-Armenia peace talks, Peskov said Russia is ready to provide a platform for a meeting of the leaders of the two countries.

“Russia constantly continues its work to assist the two states (Armenia and Azerbaijan) in resolving the situation and signing a peace treaty,” he said.