Ever since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his "special military operation" in Ukraine, Kazakhstan has tried to cling to a neutral stance.

Although Nur-Sultan is a member of the Moscow-led Eurasian Union, as well as its Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), the energy-rich Central Asian nation has supported Ukraine's territorial integrity, and openly stressed that it does not intend to recognize the Russia-backed Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics.

On the other hand, Kazakhstan did not support any anti-Russian resolutions adopted by the United Nations General Assembly, nor has it joined anti-Russian sanctions imposed by the United States and its European allies.

However, Timur Suleimenov, deputy chief of the Kazakh presidential office, no doubt surprised Moscow when he publicly announced that Kazakhstan "will not be a tool to circumvent the sanctions on Russia by the US and the EU."

"We are going to abide by the sanctions. Even though we are part of the Economic Union with Russia, Belarus and other countries, we are also part of the international community. Therefore the last thing we want is secondary sanctions of the US and the EU to be applied to Kazakhstan," Suleimenov pointed out on March 29.