Due to the missile and drone strikes by Ukraine on Russia's oil refineries, this country is experiencing a fuel shortage, with long queues forming at gas stations. This situation also negatively affects Russia's overall economic condition.
The Russian government has started to turn to its neighbors as a way out of the current situation. After Belarus, Russia also wants to buy fuel and lubricants from Kazakhstan.
However, political analyst Elkhan Shahinoglu told Medianews.az that the Kazakh government is in no hurry to make a decision on this matter: “Because supplying Russia with fuel will be perceived internationally as support for this country's aggressive war against Ukraine. Therefore, the Kazakh Ministry of Energy has stated that signing international agreements and commercial contracts in the field of oil product supply is only possible if free resource potential is available. The statement also emphasizes that the absolute priority for Astana is the full and uninterrupted supply of the domestic market. "Export supply to neighboring states can only be carried out provided there is no risk of not meeting the demands of Kazakhstan’s own citizens and economy," the Ministry of Energy of Kazakhstan said in its statement. All this shows that Astana is obliged to calculate all risks.”
Naile Gasimova,
Medianews.az