Tokayev on the peace formula
President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev delivered a speech at the summit of the member states of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) on November 23. declaration“Brother Russian and Ukrainian peoples should not be allowed to part ways for tens or hundreds of years by mutual unresolved troubles.”
“As for Ukraine, I believe the time has come for the collective quest for a peace formula. Every war ends with peace talks. At the summit in Yerevan, we must at least take every chance to achieve a ceasefire,” Tokayev said.
He also noted that the talks between Moscow and Kyiv in Turkey in the spring gave hope for a peaceful resolution of the conflict, but “the agreement was undermined for various reasons.”
According to Tokayev, the “increasing turmoil in international relations” also affected the CSTO member states. He noted the escalation of conflicts and spoke in favor of developing an open and constructive dialogue, describing it as an effective way out of crises.
In particular, the President of Kazakhstan emphasized that everyone is interested in the normalization of relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
“We hope that the Russian side’s peacekeeping efforts will make it possible to resolve the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict exclusively through political and diplomatic means and will lead the parties to sign a peace agreement,” Tokayev said.
Lukashenka on the feasibility of CSTO
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko noted that the thesis is now often heard that the future fate of the CSTO as an organization depends on the results of a special military operation in Ukraine.
“If Russia wins, CSTO will live. God forbid, if he doesn’t win, there will be no CSTO. Lukashenka said, “A lot of hotheads started to discuss this issue in our countries as well.”
He also added that if “Russia collapses”, all of his other partners in CSTO would be under the rubble. At a narrow-format session of the CSTO Collective Security Council, Lukashenka recalled the discussion of world issues that began at the SCO summit in Samarkand, and then at the CIS summit in Astana.
“I believe that today’s meeting on content will be a continuation of the dialogue started. Now is the time to comprehensively discuss issues of military-political cooperation, ensuring security at the CSTO site. Their interest is growing every day, ”said the president of Belarus.
For him, the unipolar system of world order is irrevocably a thing of the past. Against this background, Lukashenka said, some politicians have raised questions about the use of nuclear weapons.
“Individually, the nuclear rhetoric of Western leaders is going wild. The Polish leadership declares its readiness to host nuclear weapons. It’s good that the Americans have sane people who perfectly understand the dangers of nuclear games, especially with unpredictable partners,” he said. He added that nuclear blackmail has no place in international politics.
In addition, the President of Belarus compared the events in Ukraine to a hurricane that is getting stronger, pulling an increasing number of countries into its funnel and creating new problems. Lukashenka acknowledged the need for peace, but wondered: “Will Ukraine be allowed to sit at the negotiating table?”
Putin on common history
Russian President Vladimir Putin said in his speech that despite existing disagreements, all members of the CSTO are still united to preserve a common historical heritage.
“We are all truly united in the work of preserving the memory of the common history of our states, that our peoples together won the Great Patriotic War. We do this consistently together, and I think we pay the necessary and necessary attention to these issues.”
He added that he would inform the leaders of other countries about the situation in Ukraine, but offered to discuss this and other issues behind closed doors without cameras.
At the same time, Putin positively evaluated the processes for the peaceful resolution of the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict. “Negotiations [в Сочи] provided a good basis for future compromises on matters of principle. In the joint statement, it is important to reaffirm the commitment to the high-level tripartite agreements previously reached in 2020 and 2021.”
He noted that in order to normalize relations between Yerevan and Baku, it is necessary to consistently fulfill several tasks: to ensure the demilitarization of the borders of the countries, to remove transport links in the region and to solve humanitarian problems.
Source: Gazeta
Emma Matthew is a political analyst for “Social Bites”. With a keen understanding of the inner workings of government and a passion for politics, she provides insightful and informative coverage of the latest political developments.