World - North America
Updated: February 28, 2023

Blinken Visits Kazakhstan Amid Russia-Ukraine War

By Quadri Adejumo
February 28, 2023
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As tensions flare over Russia's war in Ukraine, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Kazakhstan on Tuesday.

Blinken had talks with Kazakh Foreign Minister Mukhtar Tileuberdi and then with Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.

He also held talks with other foreign ministers from the region.

His visit comes just days after the anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

A meeting of the so-called C5+1 group made up of the U.S. and the former Soviet republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, was expected to follow.

All five Central Asian republics, along with India, which Blinken will visit next, abstained in a vote to condemn the invasion last week at the U.N. General Assembly on the first anniversary of the war.

And U.S. officials hope that Blinken can convince the Central Asian nations that Russia's invasion of Ukraine is a threat to them.