Kazakhstan intends to comply with Western sanctions against Russia. This was stated by the President of the Republic Kassym-Zhomart Tokayev at a press conference following talks with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
“We have contacts with relevant organizations to comply with the sanctions regime, and any concerns of the German side regarding possible actions aimed at circumventing the sanctions regime, it seems to me, should not be”, Tokayev said (quoted by “Sputnik. Middle Abroad”).
At the same time, according to the president, Kazakhstan maintains “regular friendly contacts” with Russia and has no concerns about territorial claims from its northern neighbor.
Tokayev said that since the beginning of the year Kazakhstan has delivered 500,000 tons of oil to Germany through the Druzhba pipeline to replace Russian oil and is ready to increase deliveries next year to 1.2 million tons. The countries plan to further expand cooperation, in particular in the development of rare metal deposits.
Scholz expressed hope that Kazakhstan could help Germany become more independent of energy supplies from Russia. Chancellor called “useful” the decision of the Kazakh government to prevent the circumvention of sanctions from Russia.
“It is good and useful that the Kazakh government supports us in our efforts to prevent the circumvention of sanctions and has taken active measures to counter [this]”, Scholz said (quoted by TASS).
During the one-on-one talks Tokayev and Scholz agreed to cooperate more actively in trade and economic, investment, transportation and logistics, “green energy” and other spheres, the press service of Akorda (Kazakhstan’s presidential administration) reported. It is not known what specific projects the two leaders discussed.
Tokayev said that Kazakhstan would follow Western sanctions against Russia back in the summer of 2022. “Sanctions are sanctions, we should not violate them, especially we receive notifications regarding the fact that in case of violation of sanctions will be followed by so-called secondary sanctions from the West against our economy”, he explained.
On September 25, Tokayev met with the heads of government of Russia, Belarus and Kyrgyzstan. He said relations between Kazakhstan and Russia remain highly dynamic in trade, investment and industry. According to Tokayev, the countries are now implementing 40 joint major projects worth $16.5 billion.
Tokayev said in early September that Kazakhstan intends to significantly increase the capacity of transportation corridors that allow exporting goods bypassing Russia. According to the president, the volume of transportation along the Trans-Caspian route, which runs through the waters of the Caspian Sea, Azerbaijan and Georgia, and then – to Turkey and the EU countries, in the medium term could be increased five times.
Kazakhstan is already increasing oil exports bypassing Russia by purchasing tankers to carry raw materials across the Caspian Sea. Last year, state-owned Kazatomprom, the world’s largest uranium miner, said it was considering diversifying its export channels, which had previously been primarily through Russian ports.
