Putin discusses energy ties and trade on visit to Kazakhstan

ASTANA: Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Kazakhstan on Wednesday, and discussed boosting energy and industry ties and easing a row over farm goods with the Central Asian nation which exports most of its oil through Russia but is exploring alternatives.

Kazakhstan has tried to distance itself from Moscow’s war in Ukraine. Yet the country remains highly dependent on Russia for exporting oil to Western markets and for imports of food, electricity and other products.

“Our countries are ... constructively cooperating in the oil and gas sector,” Putin wrote in an article “Russia – Kazakhstan: a union demanded by life and looking to the future” for the Kazakhstanskaya Pravda newspaper and published on the Kremlin’s website late on Tuesday.

Kazakhstan’s energy minister said on Monday his country could sharply increase its crude oil exports out of Turkey’s port of Ceyhan, a move that would reduce the share it sends via Russia.

Underscoring that more than 80% of Kazakhstan’s oil is exported to foreign markets via Russia, Putin said he and President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev always focused on “a specific result” in their talks.

Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov told journalists on Tuesday that Putin and Tokayev would sign a protocol on extending an agreement on oil supplies to Kazakhstan. He did not give details.

The two leaders did not mention a protocol in remarks after their meeting on Wednesday.

They did say they had discussed plans to increase the transit through Kazakhstan of Russian natural gas to Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, part of Moscow’s pivot away from European energy markets.

They also said they talked about joint projects in hydroelectric power, car tyres and fertilisers and other areas.

Putin also said in his article that Russia’s state nuclear corporation Rosatom - already involved in some projects in Kazakhstan - was “ready for new large-scale projects”.