Deputy defense minister sees no enemies around Kazakhstan

The Ministry of Defense of Kazakhstan considers all the country’s neighbors as friends, according to Sultan Kamaletdinov, deputy head of the ministry.

When journalists in Astana asked if Kazakhstan’s army can defend the country against external threats and if there is any risk of invasion, Kamaletdinov responded that Kazakhstan conducts multi-vector foreign policy and has good relations with all countries of the world, including its neighbors.

«We have no border issues with our neighbors. We consider each of them as a friend and a good neighbor,» he highlighted.

Journalists also asked him to evaluate how the Defense Ministry dealt with the unrest in January 2022, when President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev invited the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) to intervene and assist to restore order.

According to Kamaletdinov, the situation was quite severe during the unrest, which led to the president’s decision. However, the armed forces of Kazakhstan fulfilled all tasks they were assigned, he said.

«There was a task to protect state and strategic facilities and we did this. All facilities protected by the army were safe,» the deputy defense minister underlined.

Kazakhstan has five neighbors: Russia, China, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. Russia which shares the longest land border in the world (7,591 kilometers) has been in war with Ukraine since February 24, 2022. Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan have a border dispute and used force against each other on several occasions.