Old bonds are put to the test in the Ukraine war

Riga Vladimir Putin can’t help it: the Russian President deliberately mispronounces the name of his Kazakh counterpart Kassym-Jomart Tokayev at every opportunity. At the St. Petersburg Economic Forum in June, he made no exception. Far more surprising to observers than this old taunt was Tokayev’s affront to Putin that day: Tokayev announced that the so-called People’s Republics of Donetsk and Lugansk would not be recognised.

The Kazakh President refused to support Putin in the Ukraine war. Because Russia claims the two areas in the southeast of Ukraine for itself and describes their defense as a reason for the war against Ukraine. Tokayev, however, referred to the right of states to their territorial integrity.

But Tokayev’s statements are more than that: they reveal the challenges Putin is posing to the region – and could herald a deliberate departure from old patterns of allegiance.