The Kazakh authorities are against Russia using the country’s territory to circumvent international sanctions, said Deputy Foreign Minister Roman Vasilenko.
“Kazakhstan has not imposed sanctions against Russia, and Kazakhstan has not joined the sanctions against Russia. At the same time, we do not want our territory to be used to circumvent sanctions,” Vasilenko said in an interview with the Polish agency PAP, as quoted by The Moscow Times.
According to him, Astana’s position is “known and understood” by all interested parties and is treated with understanding both in Russia and in the West. Vasilenko stressed that all necessary measures are being taken to prevent the circumvention of sanctions, since the republic “does not want secondary sanctions to be imposed.”
He also noted that there are “no problems” in bilateral relations between Astana and Moscow, but there are “various issues,” since the relations between the two neighboring states are “very diverse.”