Kassym-Jomart Tokayev Urges a Freeze in the Russia-Ukraine War as Kazakhstan Faces Oil Export Disruptions
Kazakhstan's President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev suggested that it is time to freeze the Russia-Ukraine conflict and return to a modified version of the Istanbul formula. Speaking in Omsk, Tokayev praised Russia's diplomatic flexibility and emphasized that Kazakhstan would not recognize occupied Ukrainian regions as part of Russia. This diplomatic move comes as Kazakhstan faces significant economic pressure due to Ukrainian drone attacks on the port of Novorossiysk. These attacks disrupted the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) terminal, which handles over 80 percent of Kazakhstan's oil exports. Consequently, the Kazakh Energy Ministry announced that oil production was temporarily cut by more than half, falling from a June average of 2.16 million barrels per day to approximately 1 million barrels per day. While Ukraine's Ambassador to Kazakhstan, Viktor Mayko, noted there was no proof the drones were Ukrainian, the administration of President Trump warned Ukraine against attacking non-Russian ships in the Black Sea to protect global energy markets.