Kazakh President Tokayev Calls for Freeze of Ukraine War at Joint Forum with Putin

Kazakhstan's President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said on Saturday that a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine might be reached if the sides froze the conflict and resumed negotiations. Speaking alongside Russian President Vladimir Putin at a Russia-Kazakhstan forum in the Siberian city of Omsk, Tokayev praised Putin's "utmost diplomatic flexibility" and suggested that it might be time to freeze the conflict and return to the "Istanbul formula 2.0."

Tokayev noted that with security guarantees from great powers, including Russia, progress could be made toward a long-awaited peace. "This must be brought to an end," he said. Russia and Ukraine held talks in Istanbul shortly after Russia's full-scale invasion in early 2022 and again in 2025, but those discussions failed to produce a breakthrough.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin outlined the current state of Russia's military operations in Ukraine to Tokayev in detail. Peskov quoted the Russian leader as saying that "freezing the conflict as such is impossible, given Kyiv's position" and that military action could be halted today if Kyiv adopted appropriate decisions.

Last month, Putin stated that Russia would continue to demand that Ukraine withdraw from four regions Russia claims as its own and publicly abandon its plans to join NATO as conditions for peace.