This article was originally published by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and is reprinted with permission.
Kazakh President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev told visiting Chancellor Olaf Scholz that Russia’s military “cannot be defeated” in its war against Ukraine and instead urged support for a peace plans being pressed by China and Brazil, a consideration the German leader quickly rejected.
“It is a fact that Russia cannot be defeated in the military sense,” Toqaev on September 16 told Scholz, who is in Astana as part of his historic trip to Central Asia.
“A further escalation of war will lead to irreparable consequences for the whole of humanity and above all for the countries involved in the Russia-Ukraine conflict,” Toqaev added.
Scholz disagreed with Toqaev’s suggestion, saying Berlin was providing support to Kyiv because Russia had invaded Ukraine in an unprovoked attack in February 2022.
“That is the case and will remain so, so that the country can defend itself and protect its integrity and sovereignty,” he said, adding that Russia was “continuing to attack Ukraine with great aggression.”
“And that is why this is something that must never be ignored in everything we discuss. It is Russia that has not only started the war but is continuing it and could contribute to ending it at any time by stopping its aggression.”
In June, more than 90 countries met for a first peace conference hosted by Switzerland, although Russia was not invited and Russian ally China declined to attend.
Ukraine has put forward a peace proposal that would demand the withdrawal of Russian troops from its territory. Other countries, including China and Brazil, have pressed for deals that would allow the Kremlin to hold on to some captured Ukrainian lands — something flatly rejected by Kyiv.
Kazakhstan, a former Soviet republic of some 20 million people, has long been a close ally of Russia, although the government has expressed some concerns about the Kremlin’s claims to Ukrainian territory and has tried to maintain good relations with the West.
“Since the war in Ukraine began, Central Asia has had a chance to reinvent itself in a comfortable geopolitical space,” Luca Anceschi, a lecturer at the University of Glasgow, told RFE/RL last month.
“They are trying to say that they are not on Russia’s side in Ukraine, like Belarus is, but they are not with Ukraine, either. They have ties with the West, but are not pro-Western,” Anceschi said.
Germany has provided Ukraine with financial backing but has shown resistance to supplying Kyiv with heavy armaments, including tanks.
Scholz’s three-day trip started in Uzbekistan on September 15 with the signing of a migration deal and is continuing in Kazakhstan on September 16-17 for the second meeting of the Central Asia-plus-Germany format that was launched a year ago in Berlin.
International watchdog Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called on Scholz to promote human rights when he “makes history” this week as the first German chancellor to attend a summit in Central Asia with all five of that post-Soviet region’s presidents.
“The German government cannot pretend closer ties with Central Asia are possible without a significant improvement in human rights in the region,” HRW said. “The upcoming summit offers a chance to make this clear.”
In its statement, HRW cited persistent rights issues across the region including the “suppression of the rights to protest and express opinions, including online, jailing of activists, torture in detention, crackdowns on civil society, violence against women, impunity for abusive security forces, and a lack of free and fair elections.”
HRW last month demanded that Kazakhstan stop limiting freedom of expression and end its persecution of comedians, citing the jailing of 31-year-old stand-up comic Aleksandr Merkul.
Germany has long been interested in boosting energy relations with Central Asia, but Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has further encouraged Germany and other European states to look elsewhere for energy and mineral imports.
This week’s summit with the Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Tajik, Turkmen, and Uzbek heads of state is expected to focus heavily on energy along with broader economic and development talks.
Kazakhstan, the largest and wealthiest of the five, has been accused of failing to adequately ensure compliance with sanctions on Russia.
But energy cooperation has been on the rise with Kazakhstan.
Crude oil from Kazakhstan began flowing last year through the 4,000-kilometer Druzhba pipeline from Russia’s southern Tatarstan region through Belarus and Poland to Germany, as part of a pivot to make up for lower supplies of Russian oil.
Toqaev praised the meeting with the German chancellor and said it will help lift the countries’ relations to a “new level.”
“Our bilateral cooperation will be expanded in the spirit of a strategic partnership,” he added.
