Kazakh Foreign Minister slams ‘territorial claims’ of Russian deputy
NUR-SULTAN, Kazakhstan – “I am Kazakh, I am a citizen of Kazakhstan – and this (the statement of the Russian deputy) hurts me,” Kazakhstan’s Foreign Minister Mukhtar Tleuberdi said on December 23, commenting at the request of Kazakhstani deputies on the politically incorrect statement of Russian State Duma deputy Vyacheslav Nikonov that “the territory of Kazakhstan is a great gift from Russia and the Soviet Union,” which he announced on Channel One in mid-December.
After such a statement by Nikonov, the Kazakh Foreign Ministry invited a temporary representative of the Russian embassy, since the ambassador was on a business trip in Moscow. “My deputy received the temporary representative of the Russian embassy and then we officially handed over a note expressing the official position of the Kazakh Foreign Ministry. According to the existing practice, they do not officially answer but reported on the measures they had taken. They contacted parliament and the presidential administration and criticized such words,” said the Kazakh foreign minister.
Tleuberdy added that he would respond to these statements of the Russian deputy in Russian: “This is bullshit.” “First of all, we must rely on history. As foreign minister, I would like to say that, of course, the statement of a State Duma deputy does not correspond to the official position of the Russian Federation,” the head of the Kazakh Foreign Ministry stressed.
He recalled that the delimitation of the border between Kazakhstan and Russia was carried out at the legislative level, a bilateral agreement between our countries was signed at the legislative level, now we are demarcating the state border, due to the pandemic, this process has been suspended, so we will complete the demarcation within three years “, – said the head of the department and added: “This is clearly reflected in all bilateral documents and therefore we will develop our relations with the Russian Federation on the basis of international law”.
On the eve of the Independence Day of Kazakhstan in mid-December, a member of the United Russia party, deputy of the Russian State Duma, Nikonov, on the air of the Big Game programme on Channel One, stated that “the territory of Kazakhstan is a great gift from Russia and Soviet Union”.
Another member of the United Russia party, State Duma deputy Yevgeny Fedorov agreed with Nikonov’s position and, moreover, said that Kazakhstan must return its territories to Russia.
As expected, such statements of Russian deputies were negatively perceived by Kazakhs. It was noted that the more frequent provocative attacks of some Russian politicians against Kazakhstan are causing serious damage to allied relations between states.
