Kazakhstan’s government on Wednesday rejected a request from Russia to expel Ukraine’s ambassador over comments about the killing of Russians, chidging Moscow for what they called a misplaced tone among “equal strategic partners. “
Tensions rose after Ukraine’s ambassador to Astana, Petro Vrublevskiy, said in August in an interview with a local blogger, referring to the war in Ukraine, that “the more Russians we kill now, the less our young people will have to kill. “
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Tuesday that Moscow was “outraged” by the fact that Vrublevskiy was still in Astana and had summoned Kazakhstan’s ambassador.
Smadiyarov said Vrublevskiy would leave Kazakhstan once a new Ukrainian ambassador was established.
Kazakhstan has had close economic and security ties with Russia, but distanced itself from Moscow after invading Ukraine in February.
Astana has called for a nonviolent solution to the confrontation, which Moscow calls a “special army operation,” and has refused to recognize referendums through which Russia annexed parts of Ukraine.
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