At a joint forum held in the Siberian city of Omsk on Saturday, Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev stood beside Russian President Vladimir Putin and made a direct appeal for the Ukraine conflict to be put on pause.
Tokayev, speaking at the Russia-Kazakhstan forum, praised Putin’s approach to diplomacy, describing it as showing “utmost diplomatic flexibility.”
The Kazakh leader then offered his own prescription for ending the war. “If I may offer my humble opinion, since I have been asked, perhaps it is time to freeze this conflict and return to the Istanbul formula 2.0,” Tokayev said.
The reference to the “Istanbul formula” points to earlier rounds of peace discussions. Both Russia and Ukraine participated in talks held in Istanbul shortly after Russia launched its full-scale invasion in early 2022, and again in 2025, though neither round of negotiations produced a meaningful breakthrough.
Tokayev went further, suggesting that security guarantees from major world powers could help move the situation toward resolution. “With (security) guarantees from the great powers, including Russia, we could move forward toward a long-awaited peace,” he said. “This must be brought to an end.”
