Tokayev urges diplomatic solution to Ukraine war in phone call with Zelenskyy

Astana, Feb 16 (EFE).- Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev urged a diplomatic solution to the Ukraine war in a phone conversation with his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, on Thursday, according to a statement from the Kazakh Presidency.

Zelensky had requested the phone call, and the Kazakh president, a close ally of Russia, reiterated the position of his country.

Kazakhstan supports “a diplomatic solution to the armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine on the basis of the UN Charter and generally recognized norms of international law,” Tokayev said.

In June 2022, during the XXV International Economic Forum in St. Petersburg, the Kazakh president stated in the presence of Russian President Vladimir Putin that his country would not recognize the separatist people’s republics of Lugansk and Donetsk, which Russia annexed illegally three months later. EFE

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