Viktor Maiko, Ambassador of Ukraine to the Republic of Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan is one of Ukraine’s key partners in Central Asia. During a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky held on the margins of the 80th UN General Assembly on September 23, President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev assured his country’s support for Ukrainian territorial integrity and sovereignty.

Against this background, countering hybrid threats that the Russian Federation is spreading through Central Asian countries, in particular in Kazakhstan, is increasingly gaining in relevance.

For this conversation, Ukrinform invited Viktor Maiko, the Ambassador of Ukraine to the Republic of Kazakhstan, to discuss the results of the presidential talks, the challenges to further progress in bilateral economic partnership, as well as the overall public sentiments in Kazakhstan. Mr. Maiko presented his credentials and began his ambassadorial tenure in Kazakhstan in early September 2025.

RENEWAL OF HIGH-LEVEL POLITICAL DIALOGUE AFTER SIX YEARS OF RECESS

--  Mr. Ambassador, which of the agreements reached in the aftermath of the summit meeting between the leaders of the two countries in New York are going to have a key impact on further progress in bilateral relations between Ukraine and Kazakhstan?

- I want to emphasize that the very fact that such a meeting took place is a positive development in itself. The previous time the presidents of Ukraine and Kazakhstan met was six years ago, in 2019, also on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, by the way.

About a month ago, the two presidents had a telephone conversation, during which they agreed to a personal meeting. And it has taken place.

At the same time, I want to note that this work is proceeding not only along a presidential track, but also a ministerial track. Foreign Ministers Andriy Sybiha and Mūrat Nūrtıleu as well made prior arrangements and met in New York. I believe this is also important, because the presidential agreements should immediately receive a logical follow-up in the form of building and developing political contacts.

The meetings emphasized and confirmed that both Ukraine and Kazakhstan have a vested interest in restoring political dialogue and returning to the traditional, friendly, intensive political communication that has been inherent in our bilateral relations throughout the time since independence.

As for the specific agreements, the first and most important agreement reached was to maintain political dialogue. The President of Ukraine, for the first time ever, suggested Kazakhstan to be a potential platform for bilateral negotiations with the Kremlin leader. The mention of the Republic of Kazakhstan in this context, along with regular suggestions from Europe and Turkey, is in itself a confirmation that the two leaders, of Ukraine and Kazakhstan, are maintaining a frank and friendly dialogue.

It is important to note that Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, the President of Kazakhstan, confirmed his stance that Kazakhstan supports independence of Ukraine and its territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders, and that an end to the Russo-Ukrainian must be reached in compliance with international law and the UN Charter. This leaves no room for speculation regarding Kazakhstan's stance.

I regard this as the main political outcome of this meeting. And as a follow-up to this political dialogue, we will soon move on and hold political consultations at the level of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, which will allow us to discuss all the main issues at a high executive level.

KAZAKHSTAN IS KEEN TO ASSIST IN POST-WAR RECONSTRUCTION OF UKRAINE

- Can we hope for economic dividends from the meeting of the two presidents in New York?

- The economy, you know, is the link that has connected Ukraine to the countries in Central Asia, Kazakhstan among them, as long as this war is going. For a number of reasons, political cooperation and political relations were put on hold, but the economy was developing and growing quite well. Therefore, the economic dimension of this cooperation will continue to develop, and I think one of the results of the meeting in New York will be that the bilateral Ukraine-Kazakhstan intergovernmental commission on economic cooperation will resume its work.

The last time this commission convened was in 2021. So, it has not been convened for four years, and it is a very effective and powerful tool, given the needs of the country with which we are building economic relations. I will initiate and suggest establishing sub-committees within this commission to address cooperation in agriculture, transport and logistics areas. It is precisely the deepening of cooperation in the field of product supply that is extremely essential for increasing bilateral trade turnover between Ukraine and Kazakhstan.

Regarding the economic domain, another concrete result of this meeting was that the Kazakh side ( and this issue was once again raised during the meeting of the two presidents in New York) has an interest in assisting in the processes of rebuilding Ukraine. Kazakh companies are interested in this, realizing the amount of work that will have to be done.

The President of Ukraine emphasized that we are willing to welcome powerful, specialized Kazakh companies here in Ukraine, those who can bring along their resources, their technologies and capabilities to help Ukraine in the restoration of public institutions, housing stock and energy facilities.

COOPERATION WITH KAZAKHSTAN AS A STEPPING STONE IN CREATING THE C5+UKRAINE FORMAT

- How, in your opinion, did the meeting of the presidents affect Astana's support for Kyiv at the multilateral level in international organizations, blocs, and alliances?

- The main result of this meeting was what we had hoped for: Kazakhstan remains a reliable partner for Ukraine and will continue to uphold the clear stance it held before. That is, there will be no votes [in the UN] favoring Russian-sponsored, anti-Ukrainian resolutions; Kazakhstan will not support provocative initiatives from Russia.

I must note that, if we look at the last, at least, two years, Russia has never managed to exploit Kazakhstan as a platform for provocative actions aimed at discrediting Ukraine and the peace process.

Kazakhstan did not go to provocations related to the currently occupied Ukrainian territories, to hosting events involving collaborators from these territories; it adequately responded to the attempted import of particular products manufactured in these territories, neither did it permit events involving the so-called administrations of the currently occupied areas to be held on its territory.

Astana adequately responded to provocative fake news, such as the one alleging Kazakhstani purportedly provided its airspace for attacks on Russia, etc. We must pay tribute to the country's leadership that Kazakhstan has never followed the path of these provocative and deceptive campaigns by the Russian Federation.

As regards multilateral cooperation with the Central Asian countries, the focus will indeed be on Kazakhstan as the region’s leading country, but other countries as well will be involved in cooperation. In the future, we are expecting a cooperation mechanism will be created, modeled on how European countries, the United States, Japan and our other allies are working together. I am talking about the C5+1 format (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan plus a partner country, - ed.). That is, we would like to create C5+Ukraine so that our country too is involved in such a broad format of political and economic relations with the Central Asian region as a whole.

LOGISTICS IS KEY TO DEVELOPING ECONOMIC RELATIONS

- Which of the bilateral cooperation areas are now of priority for Ukraine and Kazakhstan - economy, energy, transport corridors, security?

- I saw that since the beginning of the Russian aggression against Ukraine, all the countries in Central Asia have begun to take security issues more seriously. That is, for them, the level of threats has turned from theoretical to practical. Of course, they understand where the greatest threat can come from, and this hypothetical dimension has turned into an absolutely practical one for them. Therefore, they all are now devoting greater attention to the issues of building their security infrastructures. And, of course, Ukraine can be an ally, a partner, an advisor, and an expert in this. But I must say that, even if this happens, it will be with minimal PR support, taking into account the sensitivity of these issues and all the nuances associated with it.

The transport and logistics infrastructure is something without which “increasing trade turnover” or “the need to increase Ukrainian exports” remain just words. Today, Poland and Romania have a higher trade turnover with Kazakhstan and the rest of the countries of Central Asia than Ukraine has. Because they have already worked out appropriate logistics solutions. Romania, for example, has signed a number of transport agreements with Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan to create a corridor for its products.

At a recent meeting, representatives of Ukrainian farming businesses reported that they are currently using the logistics routes created by Bulgaria and Romania to export Ukrainian produce to Kazakhstan. But some of the produce categories, particularly livestock produce, do not have EU certification and hence cannot be exported in transit through Romania or Bulgaria on their way to their final destination. Because local administrations do not permit our produce to be transited via their respective territories to Kazakhstan without the aforementioned EU certification.

The development and maintenance of our own transport corridors is key to achieving a trade surplus with that country. Our bilateral trade with Kazakhstan once amounted to USD 5 billion, and plummeted to as low as USD 410 million in 2024, and 2025 does not promise to be much better in this regard. And this is not because we have no exporters, that we have nothing to export, but because there are no routes by which Ukrainian products can be delivered to the Kazakhstani market in a quick and relatively inexpensive way. But our exporters still find the ways to bring their products to that region, and thanks to this, we enjoyed a trade surplus of USD 170 million last year.

Today, our bilateral trade has plummeted to less than 10 percent from what it had once been. And Kazakhstan is still interested in buying Ukrainian pumping equipment, turbines, generators, transformers, engines, agricultural machinery, and irrigation systems. This range of products is very broad. In Kazakhstan, Ukraine is identified with high quality, reliability and a high level of service. And this is true.

The projects being implemented by Ukrainian companies in Central Asia are an example of a very responsible approach to their business, and this is often noted in conversations with me by government officials from the countries where I had worked and have contacts. Appraisals of Ukrainian businesses performance are invariably positive, regarding, among other things, a high level of commitment, appropriate quality, warranty and post-warranty service, spare parts, all maintenance services are provided. That is to say, all that is concerned with Ukraine today means a high level of products and a very high level of Ukrainian professionals, who are highly respected there.

When it comes to agriculture, Kazakhstan is interested to cooperate in areas such as livestock breeding, poultry farming, seed production, agro-industrial chemistry, compound feed, agricultural machinery, agronomy and irrigation. And in this huge industry, Ukraine has the potential to be useful for Kazakhstan.

For Astana, mineral resources are, of course, what makes the foundation of economy today. These are oil, gas, uranium, rare earth metals, other minerals – the areas where Ukraine has vast experience and expertise of its own. We have lots of specialists, as well as our own technology, which we use to develop our own mineral resource base, and some of our research institutes are already providing assistance to Kazakhstan.

Kazakhstan is devoting high priority to information technology development. They worked very intensively at one time and are currently working with China, but they have reached the level of understanding that they need to develop their own technologies. Given the huge breakthroughs and heights that Ukraine has achieved in digitalization and information technologies, Kazakhstan is interested in our experience and expertise.

Pharmaceutical industry. Previously, Ukraine used to hold about 20 percent of pharmaceutical market in Kazakhstan. Ukrainian-produced medicines were in great demand there. Locals say: give us back your pharmacy, we will stand in line for it.

The export of services is a separate market niche. We have the experience, reputation and capabilities for implementing complex projects, and we are going to extend this experience to the local market, along with the export of transport services, where we will integrate Ukrainian logistics companies so that they come there and cooperate with this large Asian country.

Unfortunately, the potential of implementing Ukraine's economic interests in Kazakhstan is only used at 5 percent of its full capacity. There are examples of how Ukraine is trying to present itself there and consolidate itself at the economic and business levels. There are examples of franchising transfers of technologies, expert knowledge, and design and engineering documentation. So far, unfortunately, I cannot give examples of successful or large-scale projects that would correspond to the national level.

Last year, for example, Ukraine exported USD 100 million worth of products and USD 800 million worth of services to Turkmenistan. This makes us confident that we can enter many sectors of the Kazakh economy with our very strong advantages and win a substantial share of that market.

KAZAKHSTAN SHARES THE WORLD’S LONGEST LAND BORDER WITH THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION, WHICH MAKES A SECURITY FACTOR THAT MUST NOT BE IGNORED

- Kazakhstan is known to be balancing its relations with Russia. To what extent does this factor affect the development of relations with Ukraine?

- We must be realistic and look at the situation as it really is. There are often two extremes in assessing the political model of Central Asia generally and Kazakhstan specifically. One extreme is to mistakenly believe that Kazakhstan and the rest of Central Asia hold a pro-Russian position. This is absolutely not true. Those saying this are spreading Russian narratives. It is Russia who would like Central Asia, led by Kazakhstan, to hold a pro-Russian position.

On the other extreme is a Ukrainian expectation that Kazakhstan and the rest of Central Asia will hold a position that is pro-Ukrainian. President Tokayev is a wise man, very knowledgeable, with vast experience in both state administration and diplomacy. I would like to remind you that he served as Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations for some time, and he had the opportunity to work not at the level of a country or region, but on a global scale and gain some experience. He holds a 100 percent pro-Kazakhstani position. But in this pro-Kazakhstani position, there is a place for Ukraine. We must be realistic and understand that Kazakhstan and Russia share the world's longest land border, measuring 7,644 kilometers (4,750 miles), and neither Astana nor Moscow forget this.

The second serious security challenge is the large population of ethnic Russians residing in the northern part of Kazakhstan, which immediately borders on the Russian Federation. And the presence of Russian propaganda there is a very serious factor that must be taken into account. This is another dimension on which we must work seriously. Objective information about and from Ukraine is, sad to say, not widely available in Kazakhstan. Because our media resources are all in Ukrainian.

They should be in Ukrainian, but if we are serious in our intention to make the governments of Kazakhstan and other Central Asian countries pursue a policy that meets or does not go against our interests, we must understand that this policy is based on public opinion. And if we do not shape this public opinion, not influence it, this void will then be constantly filled by Russian narratives, by Russian content, which actually dominates public discourse in Kazakhstan so far.

This is a large region that plays an increasingly important role not only in regional but also in global politics. The major world players are all trying to play there, competing for this market, for public opinion. Therefore, we must broadcast in the Kazakh, Turkmen, and Uzbek languages. We need to work with the Kazakh-speaking audience, keeping in mind that Russian is the second most widely spoken language which the entire population of that country speaks fluently.

Today, objective information comes mainly from social networks, where truthful sources of information find their readers and listeners, but this is not enough. Vigorous action needs to be taken to update Ukraine's media policy if we are to increase the audience of Ukraine's sympathizers and those who shape public opinion in partner countries.

ALMOST 70 PERCENT OF THE POPULATION IN KAZAKHSTAN ARE SUPPORTIVE OF UKRAINE

- How do people in Kazakhstan perceive Russian hybrid threats – information influence campaigns, political pressure, narratives about the “Russian world”?

- Propaganda has its effect. But I want to say that most of these Russian efforts are crashing, like a breakwater, against a huge, fundamental sympathy and empathy for Ukraine and its people. I have no knowledge of the facts of public opinion polls being conducted in Kazakhstan regarding attitudes towards Ukraine, but my own observations, which are based on conversations with political scientists, bloggers, experts, businessmen and entrepreneurs, suggest that approximately 70 percent of the population of Kazakhstan are sympathetic towards Ukraine to one degree or another. Because they understand what is really happening. Unfortunately, there are also those in Kazakhstan who blindly trust in the Russian media.

Sympathies are definitely on our side, but if we want this favorable disposition to be not only maintained at the current level but also increased, deepened and extended further, then we have to work with the local population and compete with Russia in Kazakhstani public discourse.

We should not expect that Kazakhstan will ban the TV channels Sputnik or Russia 24 from broadcasting on its territory, like did Europe. No matter how much we would like it to happen, there will be no ban imposed on Russian media resources there. But our media either will not be banned from broadcasting in Central Asia, and we should take advantage of this.

On cable networks, one can "catch" Ukrainian channels that broadcast in Ukrainian. But ethnic Ukrainians there also have a partial command of their native language. In Kazakhstan, they settled in waves after World War II as part of the volunteers who were sent to conquer the virgin land, and now have their children and grandchildren who grew up without learning the Ukrainian language.

Proactive Ukrainians who immigrated there in the 2000s watch Ukrainian channels and share information in an accessible form. In one of the provinces, there is even a radio station broadcasting in Ukrainian, which was created and supported by the local Ukrainian community. But these are all microscopic, isolated projects. There is not a single Ukrainian cable resource or satellite broadcaster that would speak a language understandable to the majority of population.

In none of the Central Asian countries has there ever been such a numerous population of ethnic Russians as in Kazakhstan. Understanding the importance of this region for us, it is necessary to adapt Ukraine's information policy to the realities that exist there. And this will be the best way to counter this "Russian world", in which the Russians have not come up with anything new. In Kazakh public discourse, Russian propaganda prevails in the absence of competition, of something that would debunk all these well-worn narratives that they once threw into public discourse in Ukraine: about language, church, brotherhood, friendship, cultural ties. Everyone has had enough of this, not only in our country, but also in Kazakhstan.  But there is no resource that would create and shape the opposite picture, different from this pro-Russian rhetoric - this is the main issue for now.

ETHNIC UKRAINIANS AND KAZAKHS HAVE SENT 500+ TONS OF HUMANITARIAN AID TO UKRAINE

- What projects are Astana and Kazakh businesses implementing to support Ukraine? What initiatives are the Ukrainian Embassy in Kazakhstan implementing to strengthen humanitarian and cultural contacts?

- Let's start with humanitarian aid. At the official level of the government of Kazakhstan, 40 tons of humanitarian aid shipments have been sent to Ukraine so far.

It should be taken into account that in recent years, the Central Asian countries have been consolidating their stances on all important foreign policy issues, including Ukraine, particularly as it concerns humanitarian aid. That is, the humanitarian aid shipments sent by the Kazakhstan government had exactly the same metric ton weight as the shipments sent to Ukraine by the government of Turkmenistan. We are viewing this as a manifestation of the official position of support for the Ukrainian people.

At the same time, ethnic Ukrainians, Ukrainian communities, businesses, and ordinary citizens of Kazakhstan were engaged very responsibly with providing assistance, having collected and sent more than 500 tons of humanitarian aid shipments to Ukraine over the years of war, according to the data reported to the embassy. Basically, Kazakh population was not averse to providing assistance to Ukraine, sending hundreds of tons of shipments that were not widely advertised.

In June, the Embassy assisted in organizing a recreational tour of Kazakhstan for ​​a group of 45 Ukrainian children from Cherkasy Oblast. The children were provided accommodations at the national educational and health center Baldauren, located on the side of Lake Shchuchye in one of the most picturesque places of Kazakhstan. The program included an excursion to the National Natural Reserve Burabay and a sightseeing tour of Astana, the capital city of Kazakhstan. On our plans for the future are similar tours for groups of children from Zaporizhzhia and Sumy regions, with focus on recreation and psychological rehabilitation. And we will work on this.

We are also planning for a visit by Valeriy Kopiyka, the Director of the Educational and Scientific Institute of International Relations at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. He agreed to take the lead on a voluntary initiative to organize a tour of Kazakhstan for rectors of selected Ukrainian universities to make a presentation of the Ukrainian educational system and advertise Ukrainian universities to potential students from Kazakhstan. Quite clearly, it is unrealistic to expect that potential students from Kazakhstan would rush by the hundreds and thousands to Ukraine tomorrow. But we have to create the basis now for this to happen tomorrow.

In the future, we will organize video conferences with students and faculty, visits, offline and online lectures by Ukrainian professors, because Ukraine is renowned for having a highly knowledgeable staff of academic professionals. At the same time, we are not focused on higher education only. Our professional and equipment base for blue-collar training has been traditionally very strong, so we plan to develop this segment as well.

POLITICAL DIALOGUE WITH KAZAKHSTAN – THE KEY TO DEVELOPING COOPERATION

- What next steps do you consider the most important for further strengthening Ukrainian-Kazakh relations in the current difficult geopolitical conditions?

- The short-term priority is deepening and expanding political dialogue. Without this, any initiative will be theoretical only. If we are to achieve practical results, we should build political dialogue. Where there is political will and appropriate instructions to the central government and local administrations, there will be movement in all other sectors. This is the task to be addressed first.

Further, taking into account Ukrainian interests, we must get Kazakhstan interested in the economic sectors on which everyone -- the Office of the President, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Economy, the Government of Ukraine, foreign diplomatic institutions, the Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, employers, chambers of commerce and industry, industry associations, and others -- should focus today. The more systematically and professionally we deal with this, the better figures we will see in the statistics on the trade balance of Ukraine at the end of the year.

In information policy, the focus should be on providing the mass audience in Kazakhstan with an access to Ukrainian content, in a language they understand.

In cultural diplomacy, we must actively disseminate everything related to Ukrainian cultural heritage, particularly through holding days of Ukrainian culture and cinema, Ukrainian cuisine, history, and medicine. After all, the interest in this is huge.

I would like to cite the city of Pavlodar as an example, where the cultural component of our community is a kind of “point of the spear” that penetrates everywhere. No cultural local events celebrating Kazakh national holidays or significant dates are held without invitations to participate being sent to creative groups from the Ukrainian diaspora. Because they sing songs in Ukrainian and Kazakh, play all Kazakh folk instruments and do it with the appropriate level of skill.

They understand that Ukrainians, in addition to being persistent, brave and motivated, are also very creative and traditionally talented, which is why Ukrainian culture has its admirers in Kazakhstan.

Yuriy Chorny led this conversation

Photo courtesy of the Embassy of Ukraine in Kazakhstan