Russia and Kazakhstan signed 15 agreements during President Vladimir Putin’s state visit to Astana on Thursday (28 May), including deals on Kazakhstan’s first nuclear power plant and expanded oil cooperation with Russia.
Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Astana for a state visit and held talks with Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev at the Independence Palace on trade, investment and energy cooperation.
The visit marked Putin’s second state visit to Kazakhstan, an unusual move under diplomatic protocol. Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said the format was proposed by Kazakhstan to underline what he described as the “unprecedentedly high level” of relations between the two countries.
Economic cooperation featured prominently during the talks. Russia remains one of Kazakhstan’s key trade and economic partners. Bilateral trade exceeded $28 billion last year and is expected to surpass $30 billion in the near future, according to Tokayev.
Tokayev said Russia’s role in Kazakhstan’s economic development was “difficult to overestimate” and noted that Russian direct investment in the country had reached $29 billion. The two countries are jointly implementing 177 projects worth an estimated $53 billion.
Putin said seven investment projects were already underway and described them as only the beginning of broader cooperation.
Fifteen bilateral documents were signed during the visit, including a joint statement outlining seven principles of friendship and good neighbourly relations between the peoples of the two countries.
Kazakhstan and Russia also signed an agreement on cooperation for the construction of Kazakhstan’s first nuclear power plant in Balkhash.
The document was signed by Almassadam Satkaliyev, head of Kazakhstan’s atomic energy agency, and Rosatom chief executive Alexey Likhachev.
According to officials, the agreement sets out the main terms of cooperation and financing mechanisms for the project, including a planned Russian export loan worth $16.5 billion.
Kazakhstan’s Energy Minister Yerlan Akkenzhenov and Russia’s Energy Minister Sergey Tsivilyov signed an intergovernmental agreement to expand cooperation in the oil sector.
Akkenzhenov said the agreement included plans to increase Russian oil transit to China through Kazakhstan by 2.5 million tonnes. He said additional pumping stations and pipeline expansion would be required to increase supplies along the route.
The two sides are also discussing a possible gas pipeline connecting Russia and China through Kazakhstan.
Akkenzhenov said discussions had begun on a route linked to the proposed Power of Siberia 2 project, which could transport up to 35 billion cubic metres of gas annually.
Putin is also expected to take part on Friday (29 May) in a meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council, where leaders of member states will discuss future cooperation and key integration projects.
Russia and Kazakhstan signed 15 agreements during President Vladimir Putin’s state visit to Astana on Thursday (28 May), including deals on Kazakhst...
Ukraine will acquire 20 new Swedish Gripen E fighter jets and receive 16 older C/D models next year, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Swedish Prime M...
France will become the first country in the European Union to reimburse anti-obesity drugs through its public healthcare system, Health Minister Stép...
The World Health Organization (WHO) says ongoing conflict, funding pressures and international travel restrictions are complicating efforts to contain...
A fire tore through a girls’ boarding school dormitory in Kenya’s Rift Valley overnight, killing at least 16 students and injuring dozens more, au...
France will become the first country in the European Union to reimburse anti-obesity drugs through its public healthcare system, Health Minister Stéphanie Rist announced on Thursday (28 May).
Ukraine will acquire 20 new Swedish Gripen E fighter jets and receive 16 older C/D models next year, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said on Thursday (28 May), in a move aimed at strengthening Kyiv’s air force.
A fire tore through a girls’ boarding school dormitory in Kenya’s Rift Valley overnight, killing at least 16 students and injuring dozens more, authorities said on Thursday (28 May).
Senior U.S. State Department officials spent three days in Georgia meeting ministers, opposition figures and Church leaders as Washington intensifies its strategic engagement across the South Caucasus.
Chinese investigators have uncovered hidden tunnels, missing worker trackers and fake underground walls during an initial investigation into the country’s deadliest mining disaster in more than 15 years.
Dozens of people were killed in Israeli strikes on Lebanon on Tuesday, Lebanese officials said, straining a fragile ceasefire agreed between the countries in April. The attacks came as Iran accused the U.S. of violating a separate ceasefire with strikes near the Strait of Hormuz.
The new AnewZ documentary, TARGET: Yerevan, builds its explosive case on exclusive, secret recordings originally published by Minval Politika.
The visit by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio to Armenia marks one of the clearest signs yet of Washington’s growing interest in the South Caucasus.
The U.S. and Iran have reportedly reached a preliminary 60-day ceasefire and nuclear talks deal, pending Donald Trump’s approval, Axios reports. Meanwhile, the GCC condemned Iran’s missile strike on a U.S. airbase in Kuwait, which Tehran said was retaliation for a U.S. strike near Bandar Abbas.
Senior U.S. State Department officials spent three days in Georgia meeting ministers, opposition figures and Church leaders as Washington intensifies its strategic engagement across the South Caucasus.
One hundred and eight years ago, amid collapsing empires and revolutionary chaos, the peoples of the South Caucasus took historic steps towards independence.
U.S. President Donald Trump has publicly endorsed Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan ahead of Armenia’s parliamentary elections on 7 June, backing the leader as the country moves closer to the West and further away from Russia.
Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Kazakhstan on Wednesday for a three-day state visit focused on energy, transport and economic cooperation with one of Moscow’s closest regional partners.
As Britain's sanctions on three Georgia-registered companies made headlines on 26 May, the Georgian side of the story was already complicated. The National Bank of Georgia had flagged Arvix LLC, Rapira Group LLC and Aifory LLC to law enforcement back in September 2025.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment