Tokayev, at Forum With Putin, Calls to Freeze Ukraine War
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- Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said on Saturday (July 25) that a Ukraine peace deal might be reached if both sides froze the conflict and resumed negotiations.
- Speaking at a Russia-Kazakhstan forum in Omsk alongside Vladimir Putin, Tokayev praised the Russian leader's "utmost diplomatic flexibility" — a phrase that frames Moscow rather than Kyiv as the willing negotiator.
- Tokayev proposed returning to "Istanbul formula 2.0," referencing talks that Moscow and Kyiv held shortly after the 2022 invasion and again in 2025 — neither round produced a breakthrough.
- The Kazakh president conditioned progress on "guarantees from the great powers, including Russia," and declared that the war "must be brought to an end."
- The proposal was made at a bilateral stage in the Siberian city of Omsk, before a Russian audience, rather than in a neutral or international setting.
- Tokayev's intervention adds a Central Asian voice to the small cluster of leaders publicly urging a negotiated halt, with Kazakhstan historically balancing between Moscow and the West.
Why it matters: A sitting head of state publicly coaching Putin toward a freeze while on Russian soil gives Moscow a face-saving off-ramp it has so far refused — but the Istanbul track has already failed twice (2022 and 2025), and Tokayev's condition that Russia itself be among the guarantors sets a high bar for Kyiv to accept.
