Blinken in Astana reiterates US support for Kazakhstan's sovereignty

ASTANA -- On the first stop of his tour of Central Asia, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday (February 28) vowed Washington's support for Kazakhstan's independence, which regularly faces threats from Russian politicians.

"The United States strongly supports Kazakhstan's sovereignty, its independence, its territorial integrity," Blinken said in remarks at the Kazakh Foreign Ministry in Astana.

"Sometimes we just say those words, and they actually have no meaning. And of course, in this particular time, they have even more resonance than usual," he said, referring to Russia's assault on Ukraine a year ago.

Blinken said the United States was "determined to make even stronger" its relationship with Kazakhstan, which has embraced co-operation with Washington since gaining independence in 1991, despite Moscow's overwhelming influence.

The top US diplomat later opened talks with President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.

In Astana, Blinken conferred on security and other matters with the foreign ministers of all five former Soviet republics of Central Asia -- which also include Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

Blinken will have further talks in Tashkent on Wednesday.

The trip comes days after the first anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Central Asian nations have longstanding security and economic relationships with Russia but, unlike fellow former Soviet republic Belarus, they have not rallied behind Moscow over the war.

All five Central Asian nations abstained or did not vote last week on a United Nations General Assembly resolution that demanded that Moscow pull out of Ukraine.

Russian threat

Diplomats and analysts say that Central Asian leaders are walking a tightrope because of formal security agreements with Moscow and Russia's overwhelming security and economic influence, including as a destination for migrant labourers.

Russian President Vladimir Putin's justifications for his invasion, which included deploring the treatment of Russian speakers in Ukraine, have rattled nerves in Central Asian nations with sizeable Russian minorities.

Kazakhstan, which has the longest land border with Russia, has welcomed Russians fleeing military service and called for a diplomatic resolution to the war that respects international law.

Donald Lu, the top US diplomat for South and Central Asia, said ahead of Blinken's trip that the United States was realistic that the five nations were not going to end their relationships with Russia or their other giant neighbour, China, which has been boosting its own presence.

But he said Blinken would show that the United States is a "reliable partner" and different from Moscow and Beijing.

"We have something to offer in terms of engagement economically, but we also have something to offer in terms of the values that we bring to the table," Lu told reporters Saturday.

For the United States, "the sky is the limit in Central Asia right now," said Jennifer Brick Murtazashvili, a scholar of the region at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and the University of Pittsburgh.

"There is a real desire among the leaders of these nations to move away from Russia. I think they realise that Russia is a threat to them, but by geography, there's very little they can do about it, and their economic situation doesn't give them a lot of options," she said.

"So I think there's a real opportunity for the United States to be creative, to engage with the leaders of these countries and sort of meet them where they are."

"These countries are actually in a really interesting position to balance Russia and China off against one another, and many of them have done this pretty skillfully," said Murtazashvili.