Putin to discuss energy ties in Kazakhstan amid trade tensions: Kremlin

Russia's President Vladimir Putin has arrived in Kazakhstan, Russian state media reported, as the Kremlin chief seeks to shore up ties with his Central Asian ally.

During his two-day visit starting from Wednesday, Putin will hold talks with Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, as well as take part in a meeting of the Moscow-led CSTO security alliance in the capital Astana.

Putin will discuss energy ties, the Kremlin said, on a trip that comes amid trade tensions with the Central Asian nation, which exports most of its oil through Russia.

Kazakhstan, which has tried to distance itself from the Russia-Ukraine war, remains highly dependent on Russia to export oil to Western markets and import food, electricity, and other products.

"Our countries are constructively cooperating in the oil and gas sector," Putin wrote in an article "Russia – Kazakhstan: A Union demanded by life and looking to the future" for the Kazakhstanskaya Pravda newspaper and published on the Kremlin's website late on Tuesday.

Putin's article came after Kazakhstan's energy minister said on Monday his country could sharply increase its crude oil exports out of Türkiye's port of Ceyhan, a move that would reduce the share of flows it currently sends via Russia.

Underscoring that more than 80 percent of Kazakhstan's oil is exported to foreign markets via Russia, Putin said he and President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev always focused on "a specific result" in their talks.

On Tuesday, Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov told journalists that Putin and Tokayev would sign a protocol to extend an agreement on oil supplies to Kazakhstan. He provided no further details.

Western sanctions on Russia

Putin also said in his article that Russia's state nuclear corporation Rosatom - already involved in some projects in Kazakhstan - was "ready for new large-scale projects".

In October, Kazakhstan, a nation of 20 million, voted to construct its first nuclear power plant, under a Tokayev-backed plan that faced public criticism and concerns that Russia would be involved in the project.

Putin's visit also comes amid agricultural trade tensions following a Russian ban on imports of grain, fruit and other farm products from Kazakhstan in October. Moscow imposed the ban after Kazakhstan barred Russian wheat imports in August.

While Tokayev has made several gestures welcomed by Moscow such as initiating the creation of an international body to support the Russian language across the former Soviet space, his government has also sought to maintain friendly ties with the West.

Last month, Astana paused its plans to join BRICS, the bloc of emerging economies which Putin hopes to build as a powerful counterweight to the West in global politics and trade.

Security was tight in Astana ahead of Putin's scheduled arrival on Wednesday, with whole city blocks cordoned off and military helicopters and fighter jets patrolling the sky.