Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev on Saturday met with Russian President Vladimir Putin, urging him to “freeze” the Ukraine conflict and return to what he described as the “Istanbul Formula 2.0,” where “significant results were achieved.”
During a meeting with Putin in the Russian city of Omsk, Tokayev said Kazakhstan was not an outsider to the ongoing conflict but would not seek to play a mediator role, expressing confidence that “a great country,” Russia, would resolve issues on its own.
“Perhaps this conflict should be frozen, and we should return to the ‘Istanbul Formula 2.0,’ since significant results were achieved there,” Tokayev said. “Then, naturally, under guarantees from the major powers, including Russia, we can move toward the long-awaited peace.”
Tokayev said he had received numerous signals from Europe and the United States regarding the conflict, which he described as an interstate war.
He also praised what he called Putin’s “maximum diplomatic flexibility” during the summit in Anchorage, Alaska, between the Russian president and US President Donald Trump in August last year.
“And all of this must be stopped, because what is happening, in my convinced opinion, is to the advantage and delight of the opponents of both Russia and the Ukrainian state,” he added.
Tokayev did not clarify his remarks concerning the “Istanbul formula,” but the Turkish metropolis has hosted peace talks between Russia and Ukraine, first in the initial weeks of the ongoing war, which produced a framework for a possible deal.
In mid-2025, three rounds of renewed peace talks were also held in Istanbul — on 16 May, 2 June, and 23 July — which produced major prisoner swaps and draft memorandums outlining positions of both sides for a potential peace deal.
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Developing ties
Tokayev further commented on Kazakh-Russian ties, saying Russia is effectively becoming the leading investor in his country’s economy, with volumes reaching nearly $30 billion.
“Interestingly, through joint efforts, we have identified a pool of 177 promising industrial projects, 122 of which have already been implemented, with a total project value of $53 billion,” Tokayev said.
Defining this to be a significant number “given the challenging geopolitical conditions of the current era,” Tokayev went on to speak about Kazakhstan’s project of building its first nuclear power plant. Tokayev stated he has been informed that field work on the site near Lake Balkhash is nearing completion.
“This project isn’t just about producing a new form of energy in Kazakhstan. It’s a project that will bring our countries and, most importantly, our peoples, particularly the younger generation, closer together,” Tokayev said.
“After all, we’re talking about training technical personnel with Russia’s help, local Kazakh personnel who would then be capable of working in this very complex field, the nuclear industry. Therefore, I believe all other issues are progressing quite well,” he added.
For his part, Putin praised the development of Russian-Kazakh ties, describing them as “truly strategic in nature—not just in words, but in deeds.”
“This is evidenced by the growing level of trade turnover. Last year, we had almost $28 billion, $27.8 billion, to be precise—a decent figure,” he said.
Describing this as a “positive trend” indicating they have good prospects, Putin said these prospects are determined, among other things, by investment.
“Here, too, we have something to brag about: we have 70 projects involving Russian companies and Russian businesses, totalling approximately $30 billion,” Putin said, noting Russia is the largest investor in the Kazakh economy in this sense, and in a wide range of sectors.
He also said that they actively cooperate internationally and are actively involved in all regional organisations, including the Collective Security Treaty Organisation and the Eurasian Economic Union.
Concerning the topic of Ukraine, Putin later told his Kazakh counterpart that he would inform him about it in detail during their conversation.
Russia: Kazakh proposal impossible due to Kyiv’s position
The Kremlin said on Saturday that Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev’s proposal to “freeze” the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war is “impossible” given Kyiv’s position. “Freezing (the war) as such is not possible,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted as saying by Russian media outlets, including state news agency Tass.
Peskov was quoted as saying that Russia’s conditions for a halt to hostilities are clear and the war could end “by the end of the day” if Ukraine makes the “appropriate decisions,” referring to Moscow’s demand for a Ukrainian withdrawal from the Donbas region, as well as Kyiv’s abandonment of plans to join NATO.
“For us there is one main condition –- we must achieve our goals,” Peskov went on to say, adding Russian President Vladimir Putin provided Tokayev with a detailed update on the progress of what Moscow calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine.
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Kyiv welcomes Kazakh president’s call to freeze the war
Ukraine on Sunday welcomed Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev’s call to “freeze” the war Russia launched in 2022, with Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha describing the suggestion as “realistic, timely, and wise.”
“We appreciate President @TokayevKZ telling Putin it is time to stop the war. A realistic, timely, and wise message,” Sybiha wrote on US social media platform X.
We appreciate President @TokayevKZ telling Putin it is time to stop the war. A realistic, timely, and wise message.
Ukraine has proposed stopping the war along current frontlines and turning to diplomacy, but the Kremlin continues to reject this clear path to peace. Putin’s…
— Andrii Sybiha 🇺🇦 (@andrii_sybiha) July 26, 2026
He said Ukraine proposed halting the fighting along the current front lines and turning to diplomacy, claiming that the Kremlin “continues to reject this clear path to peace.”
“Putin’s spokesman has already dismissed the Kazakh President’s proposal as well,” Sybiha added. “The bottom line: Moscow must feel more pressure before it accepts realistic peace proposals.”
