Kazakhstan is very concerned over Ukraine: Tokayev

During a working visit to St. Petersburg, the Senate Speaker of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has emphasized Kazakhstan’s grave concerns regarding the situation in Ukraine, Tengrinews reports citing the press service of the Kazakhstan Senate.

Further escalation of the situation in Ukraine may lead to extremely negative consequences for the international community as a whole, Tokayev said. Negotiations and consultations of President Nursultan Nazarbayev, including those at the Nuclear Security Summit in The Hague, indicate that Kazakhstan, as an important regional and international player has taken a active stand on improving the situation in Ukraine, he pointed out.

"The primary objective of the Ukrainian authorities at this stage should be to hold the presidential elections, form a legitimate government, and adopt a new Constitution that would reflect the political realities in Ukraine. It is necessary to engage in peaceful negotiations and resolve the present tensions with assistance from influential international organizations like the UN and OSCE. We look forward to the talks in Geneva with representatives of Ukraine, EU, the U.S. and Russia. The resolution of the Ukrainian crisis should be carried out through a dialogue of all the parties involved and in accordance with the international law," Tokayev said before the Geneva meeting.

After seven hour of Geneva meeting that took place later the same week Ukraine, Russia, the United States and European Union agreed that illegal groups of protestors had to be disarmed and removed from squares and streets and an amnesty had to be declared. The Kazakhstan Foreign Ministry called the decision "a sign of wisdom and readiness to constructively resolve disagreements".

Kazakhstan's parliamentary delegation visited St. Petersburg last week where it took part in activities of the Parliamentary Assembly of the CSTO, EurAsEC Inter-Parliamentary Assembly and CIS Interparliamentary Assembly. Senate Speaker Kassym-Jomart Tokayev had bilateral meetings with heads of parliamentary delegations of Russia and Belarus.

Together with the Speaker of the Russian State Duma Sergey Naryshkin, Tokayev discussed the agenda of the CSTO and CIS, the Eurasian economic integration, and the Kazakh-Russian inter-parliamentary cooperation.

During Tokayev’s meeting with the Council Chairman of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus Anatoly Rubinov, they exchanged views on development of relations between the parliaments of the two countries, in particular in the framework the Parliamentary Cooperation Committee "Republic of Kazakhstan - Republic of Belarus" established in 2012.

During his meeting with the chairman of the Federation Council (upper house of Russia’s Federal Assembly), Chairman of the Council of IPA CIS (Interparliamentary Assembly) Valentina Matviyenko Kazakhstan's Tokayev discussed cooperation between the upper chambers of the legislatures of the two countries, as well as other pressing issues, including the situation in Ukraine. They agreed that Kazakh-Russian relations were of strategic and allied nature and allowed for further strengthening of the parliamentary cooperation. Furthermore, they stressed the importance of the forthcoming meeting of the Inter-Parliamentary Cooperation Committee "Kazakhstan-Russia" that will be held in Astana in May 2014. Tokayev and Matviyenko declared that the forthcoming signing of the Treaty establishing the Eurasian Economic Union was of crucial importance.

Tokayev pointed out that the CSTO had become an important international institution, and reminded that the organization had gained significant political weight over the years. Therefore, the CSTO should not be construed as a confrontational organization. Therefore, it is necessary to continue improving the mechanisms of its operation, Tokayev said.

Earlier this year in The Hague, President Nursultan Nazarbayev expressed his views on the resolution of the situation in Ukraine. "In recent years, Ukraine's political leadership was constantly swaying between relations with Europe and relations with Russia, between participating in the CIS and not. In fact, the people and the country came to be split into two camps. The task now is a return into the legal field, which means holding elections. They should elect a legitimate president, a parliament and a legitimate government. Then, with this in place, it is necessary to hold peaceful negotiations and resolve the current situation," Nazarbayev said at a briefing in The Hague.

Writing by Dinara Urazova