President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Mr Tokayev, good afternoon.
Thank you very much for being in Moscow on the eve of, and throughout tomorrow’s celebrations marking the Victory of the Soviet people in the Great Patriotic War.
I know that your own family is directly connected to the events of those war years, and for all of us, for our peoples and for us personally, this is truly a monumental and perhaps the most important holiday of all.
It is especially meaningful to see you here today and tomorrow because, despite everything surrounding this occasion, you considered it possible to come to Moscow and spend these days together with us, together with Russia. This is the clearest proof of the true level of relations between Kazakhstan and the Russian Federation. To a significant extent, this is thanks to you and your personal contribution to the development of interstate ties.
Thank you once again for coming to Moscow.
President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev: Thank you, Mr Putin.
I am very glad to see you in Moscow on the eve of the great holiday, Victory Day. This holiday is, of course, as one well-known song goes, with tears in our eyes. We honour the heroes of the past war, the bloodiest war in the history of humankind. Still, our ancestors did not die in vain because we should remember that they not only protected the happy future of their children and grandchildren, but also that the Soviet state gained the great power status following WWII by defeating Nazism in the Great Patriotic War, and in fact became a founder of the United Nations. That is, it was engaged in shaping the new world order after the world war.
We do remember all this. We honour our veterans in Kazakhstan, which has 57 residents who remember the war. Naturally, we reward them with bonuses and payments. All in all, over 32,000 people are considered war veterans because they worked on the home front. And, as it is universally known, there is no front without the home front.
I reiterate that I am glad to see you on this special day.
As for cooperation between our countries, we are intensively preparing for your state visit in late May. You know, our countries have been working on 177 industrial cooperation projects alone over the past 20 years, and 122 projects were implemented during the last five years.
Russia is one of the main if not the key investor in Kazakhstan’s economy. Our trade is developing successfully. According to forecasts, we will confidently surpass the $30 billion mark by the end of this year. This is a good indicator.
I would like to highlight the development of humanitarian ties between our countries in education, including higher, secondary and primary one. Sirius schools have actually already begun to work on our territory in Alma Ata, Astana and other cities.
Vladimir Putin: It is a good project.
Kassym-Jomart Tokayev: Yes, a very good project. I supervise these projects personally.
Of course, we have a great deal of work ahead, but I think that we will be able to carry out these projects. There is no such thing as bad education, as we all know. We are interested in having Sirius schools working in our country.
And, of course, tourism is a very important indicator as well. According to the results of 2025, Russia placed first by the number of tourists who visited Kazakhstan. China comes second, India third, Türkiye fourth, and South Korea fifth. The results are very good.
I also hope, of course, that the upcoming summit or the meeting of the Supreme Economic Council of the Eurasian Economic Union will also be a success. I have recently met with the Chairman of the Eurasian Economic Commission, and we reviewed the agenda. I think that there are no obstacles on the way to the success of this important event.
There are also questions of no such a controversial nature, but the economy is the economy, and such problems do arise from time to time. And it is very good that we have managed to find approaches to solving such problems.
I would like, to speak to you privately later, if possible, but overall, I believe that your upcoming state visit to Kazakhstan will be an event of great importance, political and historical importance, without exaggeration.
Vladimir Putin: Thank you very much. We will be getting ready for the work during this visit.
Kassym-Jomart Tokayev: Yes.
Vladimir Putin: Thank you very much.
<…>