Putin's Meeting with Nazarbayev: Former Kremlin Employee and Others Comment

On December 14, Russian President Vladimir Putin received Kazakhstan's former President Nursultan Nazarbayev at his Novo-Ogaryovo residence.

However, there are no details of the meeting at all. Orda.kz has compiled a synopsis of how some have reacted.

In Russia, Svobodnaya Pressa wrote about the meeting and interviewed three people.

The first was Dmitry Zhuravlev, a former employee of the Russian Presidential Administration.

Nazarbayev wants to symbolically remind Kazakhstan of how much better it was before than it is now. For Russia, the meaning of this meeting is to show that we remember, we value, we support and will not let anyone hurt you, Zhuravlev believes.

The head of the Central Asia and Kazakhstan department at the Institute of CIS Countries, Andrei Grozin, links the meeting between Nazarbayev and Putin to the visits of the latter and senior Russian dignitaries to Kazakhstan:

Most likely, the meeting in Novo-Ogaryovo is a continuation of the process of indirect, non-public diplomacy of Russia, which we have been observing since Mishustin's visit to Astana with a large delegation of captains of Russian business. Then there was the visit of Vladimir Vladimirovich, then Matviyenko.

A former employee of the Russian embassy in Kazakhstan, historian Alexander Afanasyev, believes this is a signal...to Kazakh nationalists. 

Vladimir Vladimirovich does nothing without reason. His meeting with Nazarbayev is a clear signal to Nazarbayev's Kazakhstan, a friendly one. And at the same time, it is a signal to the nationalists, the same Elder Juz, so that in the conditions of the current tossing and turning, taking into account the fate of Ukraine, they draw conclusions for themselves. This is a strong move, he says.

Majilis deputy Samat Nurtaza wrote on Facebook that the previous meeting between Putin and Nazarbayev occurred three years ago, and less than a month later, the events of January 2022 took place. 

Such meetings cause some kind of internal anxiety. The St. Petersburg meeting of December 2021 immediately pops into my head, after which the Qantar events happened. I am convinced that each person should do their immediate work and correspond to the position they currently occupy,writes Nurtaza.

He does not understand why Nazarbayev is meeting with Putin:

Or maybe it's a habit? A long-standing habit from the USSR, when you had to fly to the Kremlin for approval? After all, Nursultan Abishevich is a man of the Soviet nomenklatura, no matter how you look at it... Moreover, if he had flown just as a tourist, no one would have said a word. But here he is straight from the airport to Novo-Ogaryovo, to VVP (Putin - Ed.). It's somehow alarming. I don't want any shocks or worries, to be honest...

Nazarbayev's last public appearance was during the referendum on constructing a nuclear power plant.

Original Author: Igor Ulitin