During a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Omsk, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev suggested that the war between Russia and Ukraine might be frozen and that the parties should return to negotiations under an “Istanbul 2.0” format, according to Ulysmedia.kz.

Details

Tokayev noted that the current conflict remains difficult to understand and differs from other regional confrontations. He said that while the causes of the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia were clear and deeply rooted in history, the situation surrounding Russia and Ukraine appears fundamentally different.

“The nature of this conflict is not entirely clear to many people, including ourselves. For example, there was a conflict, including a frozen conflict, between Azerbaijan and Armenia. The essence and origins of that conflict were completely clear to us—they went deep into history. But here, it is very difficult to understand,” he said.

Tokayev also suggested that the time may have come to consider freezing the conflict and returning to what he called the “Istanbul Formula 2.0.” According to him, the previous round of negotiations had produced substantial progress.

In response, Vladimir Putin said that he would brief Tokayev on the current state of affairs regarding this issue.

Meeting in Omsk

On 25 July, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev arrived in Omsk to participate in the 22nd Kazakhstan–Russia Interregional Cooperation Forum.

As part of the visit, the presidents of Kazakhstan and Russia are holding bilateral talks to discuss bilateral cooperation as well as current international issues.

Earlier, Peskov Did Not Rule Out Discussing the CPC

On the eve of the meeting, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that one of the topics of the Tokayev–Putin talks could be attacks on the infrastructure of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC).

According to Peskov, strikes on the CPC affect not only Russia’s interests but also those of Kazakhstan and the United States, as American companies are among the consortium’s shareholders.