Good Kazakh-Russian Relationship Will Not Change Under Tokayev's Presidency - Lawmaker

The good relationship between Russia and Kazakhstan will not change after Kazakh Senate Speaker Kassym-Jomart Tokayev becomes acting president of Kazakhstan, Akhmet Muradov, a member of the parliament's lower house, the Mazhilis, told Sputnik on Tuesday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 19th March, 2019) The good relationship between Russia and Kazakhstan will not change after Kazakh Senate Speaker Kassym-Jomart Tokayev becomes acting president of Kazakhstan, Akhmet Muradov, a member of the parliament's lower house, the Mazhilis, told Sputnik on Tuesday.

Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev announced his resignation earlier in the day in a televised address to the nation, saying Tokayev would lead the country until the presidential election scheduled for 2020. Tokayev will be sworn in as acting president on Wednesday noon.

"Kazakhstan has one of the strongest relationships with Russia, as I understand, of all of our friends. There is nobody closer, especially among our neighbors. As we worked in developing our friendship and relations, so we will continue to work in the future," Muradov said.

Tokayev is a very experienced, state-minded person with a lot of international experience, he recalled.

"He was the director general of the UN Office in Geneva, the foreign minister, the prime minister. I believe that given all of these parameters, our relations with all of our friends, partners, will continue within the framework of the agreements that we have signed," the lawmaker said.

Muradov also said he believed that Russian President Vladimir Putin was probably well acquainted with Tokayev.

Nazarbayev, 78, held a number of senior posts in the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic, which was a part of the Soviet Union. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Nazarbayev remained in power, becoming president of the independent Republic of Kazakhstan.