"No one should ignore importance of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan" Kazakh pundit on Caliber.Az

Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes at the US Department of the Treasury Elizabeth Rosenberg and EU Sanctions Envoy David O'Sullivan recently visited Kazakhstan with a proposal to stop the diversion of anti-Russian sanctions. With a similar agenda, the “sanctions brigade” visited Kyrgyzstan on April 26–28, which O’Sullivan had previously visited with a warning that the EU would establish control over trade flows. The task of the United States and the European Union is to at least ensure the effective implementation of sanctions by turning the Central Asian countries against Russia.

However, the processes of market diversification are already taking place in the countries of Central Asia. Thus, in particular, the April visit of Ilham Aliyev served as a starting point for launching the transit of Kazakh oil through Azerbaijan. Against the backdrop of geopolitical turbulence associated with the Russian-Ukrainian war and the global sanctions policy, on the contrary, the economic and political integration of the Turkic countries is increasing, and Azerbaijan is becoming nearly the main logistics link for the transport and communication routes of Eurasia.

The role of Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan in matters of energy security in the world is growing, Turkish Grand National Assembly Speaker Mustafa Sentop said.  The official added that the efforts of the two countries are noticeable in the field of energy security, noting that they overcome the borders of the region and contribute to global security.

“The world economy is connected by sensitive links in the chain. Breaking one of these can be a very serious problem,” he said.

According to Kazakh pundit, and international lawyer Ruslan Tusupbekov, Astana should take a closer look at the visits of Western delegations and stop pretending to be a virtuoso geopolitical player. In an interview with Caliber.Az, he stated that times have changed a lot.

“If needed, I think that the West will have a short conversation with our country, so any cunning manoeuvres should be stopped. They will lead to no good. Kazakhstan has been a transit country for parallel imports for over a year, in other words, a country through which smuggled Western goods were transported to Russia. Therefore, it is not worth thinking about any economic balancing act now, but we must try to be as loyal as possible in this regard, to be on the side of the West, on the side of democracy and civilization. Our country should stop being a transit platform for the transportation of sanctioned goods to Russia - this is my personal position as a patriot and politician. It is clear that Kazakhstan has been trying to manoeuvre in this position for over a year, but it is time to pull the plug, the situation has become too tense,” the Kazakh politician noted.

According to him, on the surface, everything looks very adequate: no one threatens anyone, on the contrary, the West is now trying to talk as gently as possible with Kazakhstan and other Central Asian countries, fearing that in these circumstances they may fall under the influence of Russia.
“So that we don’t play an act, after all - an eastern country, with its own mentality, is in a difficult geopolitical situation between a “dragon” and a “bear” - the West also takes this into account. The Americans, the British, and what we call the collective West, have already been burned with harsh rhetoric in other countries and therefore speak with Kazakhstan as softly as possible. And Kazakhstan also reacts as diplomatically as possible,” the pundit noted.

According to Ruslan Tusupbekov, Kazakhstan is now also, in a manner of speaking, in the process of dialogue, without making sudden movements so as not to anger anyone.

“And this is the right policy, in my opinion, everything must be done very carefully, in line with the situation. Therefore, now Kazakhstan does not express any official point of view on this matter. It is also wrong to go on the rampage and make some promises to the West. Nobody wants to irritate Russia, we are trying to pretend that everything is fine and somehow resolve the situation,” the politician noted.

He also added that much depends on Ukraine's success on the battlefield.

“The success of Ukraine is literally the success of all of us, the countries of Central Asia, in dialogue with Russia. By the way, this includes the countries of the Caucasus, in particular, the main player in this region - Azerbaijan. US senators and the UK government are now very cautious in regard to the sanctions issue for all countries, let's say, the sanctions belt. And although we, of course, should not argue with them, Kazakhstan is not answering either “yes” or “no” now, everyone is waiting for a change in the situation on the Ukrainian front,” the expert said.

Talking about the remarks of Mustafa Shentop, Tusupbekov stressed that the Turkish official made it clear that the world is not going to give up hydrocarbons yet, and in the face of a difficult geopolitical situation and turbulence, their significance is only increasing.

“Naturally, the importance of Azerbaijan as an exporter and transmitter of energy resources has increased. The cooperation of Kazakhstan with Azerbaijan and Türkiye on this issue is decisive. It is Azerbaijan that is becoming the main bridge of energy resources from Asia to Europe. And therefore, this is also a sign that the West should treat such a transit route and its moderator states as carefully as possible. In his speech, Shentop specifically alludes to the fact that no one should ignore the importance of Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan - the countries are becoming important players on the world political map. This applies to the entire spectrum - political and economic ties,” Tusupbekov finalised.