Kazakhstan does not view Crimea’s reunification with Russia as annexation, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said in an interview with Deutsche Welle.
"What’s done is done. Annexation is too harsh of a word regarding Crimea," noted Tokayev.
Tokayev called relations between Kazakhstan and Russia "trust-based and good-neighborly", and therefore, according to him, the authorities of the Republic "have believed in the wisdom and honesty of the Russian leadership from the very beginning".
President of Kazakhstan also reiterated that the Minsk talks had actually been initiated by the first President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev and were to be held in Astana. "But due to logistics and the distance from Europe, the decision was made to hold these talks in Minsk," he explained, noting that today, "the Minsk agreements are the only legal document that can eventually lead to the settlement of the so-called Ukrainian conflict".
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: official website of the President of the Russian Federation