After his re-election, Kazakhstani President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev made his first foreign visit to Moscow on November 28, an action that, up to now, most observers would have seen as a clear expression of loyalty or even subservience to Russia by the head of a post-Soviet state. But for reasons both immediate and longer term, even the most pro-Kremlin of commentators have refrained from such suggestions in this case, reflecting a new reality in which Kazakhstan, hitherto one of Russia’s most reliable allies, is pursuing a course increasingly independent of and at odds with the Kremlin. The Russian leadership is assuredly aware of this, and one measly meeting is not going to change that.
Despite Moscow Meeting, Kazakhstan Pursues More Independent Course – Jamestown
