ALMATY/NOV. 29 2022 (The Bulletin) — — Kazakhstan snubbed a Russian request to cut railway fees for Russian agricultural goods being transported to China, Central Asia and Afghanistan.
The refusal highlights the shift in power in the former Soviet Union away from the Kremlin.
“No one is going to cut (fees) until there are concrete proposals on what volumes of which goods will be shipped,” Serik Zhumangarin, Kazakhstan’s deputy PM, told a briefing after meeting Russian officials.
Kazakhstan is also a major grain exporter.
The Kremlin has been trying to lean more heavily on Central Asia for economic and trade support. After meeting Kazakh Pres. Kassym Jomart Tokayev in the Kremlin, Vladimir Putin proposed setting up a gas union between Russia, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.
ENDS
— This story was published in issue 530 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin, on Dec. 4 2022
— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2022