Kazakhstan has stated that it will not recognize Kremlin-organized referendums in four occupied regions in Ukraine aimed at annexing territory to Russia, despite being a close ally of Russia.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Aibek Smadiyarov said Monday that Kazakhstan’s stance on the referendum is consistent with “the principles of territorial integrity of states, their sovereign equivalence and peaceful coexistence.”
“We reconfirm our readiness to provide all possible assistance to the establishments of a political dialogue,” he said. “At the same time, our country believes that maintaining stability at either regional or global level is the most important goal.”
By incorporating the areas of Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia into Russia, Moscow could portray attacks to retake them as an attack on Russia itself, a warning to Ukraine and its Western allies.
Ukraine and its allies have dismissed the referendums as a sham designed to justify an escalation of the war and a mobilization drive by Moscow after recent battlefield losses.
Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has repeatedly called for the resolution of the Ukrainian conflict in line with the United Nations charter.
“If the right to self-determination is put into practice all over the world, then there will be over 600 countries instead of the 193 states that are currently members of the United Nations. Of course, that would be chaos,” Tokayev said at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.
Tokayev stated that Kazakhstan does not recognize Taiwan, Kosovo, South Ossetia, or Abkhazia for this reason, and that the same principle will apply to quasi-state territories such as Luhansk and Donetsk.
