Tokayev Urges Putin to Freeze Ukraine War in Omsk
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- Tokayev met Putin in Omsk on July 24-25 at the Russia-Kazakhstan Forum of Interregional Cooperation, where he publicly urged Russia to 'put this conflict on hold' and return to the 'Istanbul 2.0' negotiating formula referencing 2022 and May 2025 talks in Turkey.
- Tokayev rejected serving as a mediator — 'I refuse to be a mediator, because I know that Russia is a great country' — despite Kazakhstan's past mediation offers for Syria circa 2017, saying he was conveying public requests rather than inserting himself.
- Putin replied only that he would 'inform Tokayev about the progress of affairs in the Ukrainian direction,' while Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov dismissed the proposal outright: 'a freeze as such is impossible' and 'we must achieve our goals.'
- Shortly after, Putin signed two executive orders authorizing Russia to renegotiate its 2013 military-technical cooperation agreement with Kazakhstan and 2016 treaty with Uzbekistan, which TASS noted have not been updated since signing.
- The existing agreements cover weapons sales, mutual deliveries of defense products, military-technical information, intellectual property, repair and modernization of armaments, joint R&D, and joint manufacturing facilities, according to The Insider's summary.
- Uzbekistan's military reliance on Moscow is stark: the Oxus Society reports it holds 'one of the largest stockpiles of Russian and Soviet military equipment outside of Russia' yet 'does not produce enough ammunition and supplies to meet its basic peacetime requirements,' a vulnerability compounded by Western sanctions on dual-use goods from microchips to drone parts.
- Tokayev framed the conflict as playing 'into the hands and delights of the adversaries of both Russia and Ukraine,' while reiterating 'strategic cooperation' and an 'allied relationship' with Russia alongside respect for 'the Ukrainian people.'
Why it matters: Tokayev's public call for Russia to halt the Ukraine war drew a flat rejection from Peskov ('a freeze as such is impossible'), signaling Moscow's terms haven't shifted. Russia's parallel move to renegotiate military-technical pacts with Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan shows it preserving security ties to Central Asia despite the grinding conflict.
