Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Roman Vassilyenko held a video meeting with UK Minister of State for South and Central Asia, North Africa Lord Tariq Ahmad, and British Ambassador to Kazakhstan Kathy Leach, according to the press release of the MFA.
According to Inform.kz, the interlocutors pointed out the high level of mutual trust and broad mutually beneficial cooperation reached during 30 years of diplomatic relations. They also discussed the situation in Ukraine and the steps taken at the international level to cease hostilities and take the sides back to resolving them via peaceful means. The British side confirmed that it has no intention to impose sanctions against Kazakhstan due to the Russian military operation in Ukraine. Following the meeting, both sides expressed mutual understanding on a range of topics during the discussion as well as mutual readiness for the further active and full development of bilateral relations.
Controversy over sanctions on Kazakhstan came shortly after Member of Parliament Margaret Hodge's request to British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss to consider imposing sanctions on Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan for their support of Putin and his policies during a debate on sanctions against Russia over its attack on Ukraine.
Hodge was referring to comments by Kazakh Foreign Minister Mukhtar Tileuberdi on the situation in Ukraine after he echoed the sentiments of President Kassym-Jomart Tokaev.
Tokaev said after Russia started the full-scale attack on Ukraine on February 24 that the conflict must be solved diplomatically, but stressed that Kazakhstan supports Moscow's policies on the "indivisible security in Eurasia," a concept Russia has been pushing forward while demanding NATO stop expanding eastward and opposing Ukraine's plans to join NATO. But Deputy Foreign Minister Shakhrat Nuryshev said on March 2 that Tileuberdi's statements were not articulating Kazakhstan's official position on Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
