“The fact is that Russia is militarily invincible. Further escalation of the war will have irreparable consequences for all of humanity and, above all, for all countries directly involved in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict,” he said.
Tokayev said that Kazakhstan has “genuine sympathy” for the Ukrainian people, asserted that there have never been any disagreements between the two states, but mentioned the Istanbul agreements, the return to which has been repeatedly discussed in the aggressor country, Russia.
“Unfortunately, a good opportunity to achieve at least a truce was lost with the refusal to conclude the Istanbul Agreement, but the chance to achieve peace still exists. We need to carefully consider all the peace initiatives of the various states and come to a decision to stop hostilities and then move on to discussing territorial issues. In our opinion, the peace plan between China and Brazil deserves support,” he said.
The statement on the German government website does not mention how Scholz responded to Tokayev’s words. It said that she spoke about the growing importance of Central Asia and economic cooperation between the two countries. In addition, the German government’s press service noted as important the Chancellor’s statement that it is necessary to study the possibilities of a peaceful solution to the war. As stated in the message, she mentioned the peace summit held in Switzerland in the summer and emphasized: “It was Russia that not only started the war, but is also continuing it and can at any time help to end it, stopping its aggression.”
Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Foreign Policy and People’s Deputy from the People’s Service Alexander Merezhko responded to Tokayev’s statement in a comment to LIGA.net.
“The claim of Russia’s invincibility is a myth… Ukraine has already inflicted a series of defeats on the Russian Federation near kyiv, Kharkov and Kherson,” the MP stressed.
He added that the words about the “Istanbul Agreement” are also a myth, because no agreements or deals were concluded during the negotiations. The Ukrainian MP advised Tokayev to think about the security of his own country, which, in his opinion, is under threat.
“Russia may try to annex northern Kazakhstan or even the whole of Kazakhstan under the pretext of ‘protecting the Russian-speaking population’. Calls for the annexation of Kazakhstan’s territory have been heard in Russia for a long time, starting with Solzhenitsyn,” Merezhko added.
Context
The Office of the President of Ukraine reported that the negotiation process in Istanbul (the last meeting took place in the spring of 2022) was stopped due to lack of details that could be discussed. The Russian Federation has repeatedly demanded from Ukraine surrender.
Ukraine presented its peace formula in November 2022. which contains 10 points. One of its key provisions is the withdrawal of Russian troops from the entire territory of Ukraine within internationally recognized borders. In June 2024, the first peace summit was held in Switzerland, They discussed it three points of the peace formula – nuclear security, food security and the release of prisoners of war and Ukrainian children abducted by Russia.
More than 90 states participated in the summit; Kazakhstan was not present.
Moscow was not invited to this summit. The presence of the Russian Federation at the second peace summit will indicate that it has decided to end the war, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky believes.
After the summit, Zelensky announced the need to prepare a plan to end the war, the deadline, according to the president, is until the end of November.
On August 27, the Ukrainian president said that he plans to present this plan to US President Joe Biden, as well as to candidates for this post Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. According to Zelensky, one of the stages of ending the war is the Kursk operation of the Ukrainian defence forces.
