Russian, Kazakh presidents discuss joint exercises in Sochi

President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Russia’s Sochi city.

President Putin spoke about preparation for joint exercises between Russia and Kazakhstan within the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO), according to Russia’s Kommersant newspaper.

In turn, President Tokayev noted that there were no grounds for pessimistic forecasts about cooperation between the two countries.

During the talks, President Tokayev said that he hopes for President Putin's personal participation in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) summit in October 2022. Kazakhstan will chair the CIS in 2023.

The leaders of the two countries met at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum on June 17. Then President Tokayev refused to recognise the so-called "Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics" as quasi-state formations.

Later, the Kazakh Ministry of Finance published a draft order limiting the supply of certain goods to Russia. President Tokayev proposed to arrange supplies bypassing Russia amid the risks of suspension of the pumping of Kazakh oil by exporters from Russia.

The Russian and Kazakh presidents held phone talks on July 12. The Kazakh presidential press service reported that the presidents assessed the cooperation between the two countries as satisfactory.