Link to article: https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/putin-talk-energy-ties-visit-kazakhstan-kremlin-says-2024-11-27/
On Wednesday, November 27th, Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia, visited Kazakhstan to discuss boosting energy and industry ties between the two countries and easing a dispute over farm goods and the exportation of oil. Kazakhstan relies heavily on Russia to export oil to Western countries and markets, as well as the importation of necessary goods like food and electricity. Recently, however, Kazakhstan has been considering increasing its exports of oil out of Turkey’s ports, which would significantly decrease Russia’s shares. The Kremlin’s foreign aide stated on Tuesday, November 26th, that Putin and Tokayev, the President of Kazakhstan, would discuss this in their meeting, but following the visit neither leader confirmed that this had been addressed. However, they did confirm to have discussed the transit of Russian natural gas to Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan through Kazakhstan, as well as collaborating in terms of car tyres, fertilizers, and hydroelectric power. Additionally, last month Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, stated it had no plans to join BRICS and aims to maintain friendly relations with the West, contrary to Putin’s goal of building a powerful counterweight to the West.
This article demonstrates how the ties between Kazakhstan and Russia are currently developing, especially in terms of business and energy. While Kazakhstan’s claims of potentially reducing its exports of oil out of Russia were not confirmed to have been addressed, the two leaders did discuss how they plan to cooperate on projects in the future, including car tyres, fertilizers, and hydroelectric power. This points to increased collaboration between the two countries, but Kazakhstan also previously stated it would not join BRICS, which Putin has been attempting to build up as a powerful alternative to the West. While Kazakhstan and Russia do seem to be working together, they don’t seem to be the close allies they could be.
Since neither President Putin nor President Tokayev publicly addressed the main concern of the visit, Kazakhstan’s exports of oil out of Russia’s ports, it is difficult to predict how either country will proceed moving forward. It is likely, though, that they will continue to work together on the projects they have already discussed. Additionally, it would make sense that Putin would continue his attempts to ensure that Kazakhstan continues to export its oil from Russia’s ports, since a change to Turkey would drastically decrease its shares.
These interactions between Russia and Kazakhstan reflect the idea of interdependence, the idea that states are economically and politically connected, and conflict is not desirable. Naturally, when Putin learned that Kazakhstan had begun to consider moving their exports out of Russia’s ports and into Turkey, he made arrangements to discuss the possibility. As the idea of interdependence claims, conflict is not desirable, which is exactly why the leaders of the two countries arranged a visit and a conversation to ease the tensions.