Situation in Ukraine has a direct impact on the Customs Union: President Nazarbayev

Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev has met the country’s Foreign Minister Yerlan Idrissov to discuss foreign policy priorities for the nearest future as well as acute issues on the international agenda, the president’s website reports. “The current situation in the post-soviet Ukraine has a direct impact on relations among member states of the CIS and on the Customs Union [consisting of Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus]. I have suggested meeting to discuss measures to prevent adverse repercussions”, President said. March 1, the Federation Council (the upper chamber of the Russian parliament) unanimously voted for letting President Putin sending Russian troops to Ukraine to facilitate normalization of the political situation. Ukraine’s Parliament urged Mr. Putin not to send the troops. Kazakhstan’s Foreign Ministry called the parties to renounce use of force to settle the situation in Ukraine. President Nazarbayev has discussed the situation with President Alexandr Lukashenko of Belarus and President Vladimir Putin of Russia in a telephone talk.