"Your Excellency, Mr. Vladimir Putin." This is how the Russian president was greeted in Astana.

Massive banners proclaiming “Your Excellency, Mr. Vladimir Putin, welcome to Astana!” fill the streets. The tricolor is everywhere, even in the sky: six military jets “paint” white, blue, and red stripes above the airport — this is how the capital of Kazakhstan welcomes the president of a neighboring country.

“They have gone overboard” — wrote a Facebook user from Astana, sharing a photo of the streets adorned with Russian flags. Posts highlighting the abundance of the tricolor on the day of Putin's arrival flooded Kaznet. The greeting referring to him as “Your Excellency” outraged some users.

Kazakh political analyst Gaziz Abishev explained on his telegram channel that Putin's visit is state-related, hence the pompous welcome, and that the phrase “Your Excellency” is a standard form of address for high-ranking representatives of foreign states.

Similar forms of address, but not in Russian, were already displayed in Astana in Kazakh (“Жоғары мәртебелі”) and in the native languages of visiting leaders on state visits. However, they did not cause such a stir. The heightened attention to the greeting this time may be due to the identity of the guest.

Putin is essentially in international isolation. Following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, American officials and most European leaders ceased communication with him, and The Hague issued an arrest warrant for Putin on charges of war crimes.

— Putin's image has suffered greatly. Akorda has done everything to revive it, playing to what is necessary for the Kremlin and for Putin personally — believes political analyst Dimash Alzhanov. — State visits can indeed be ceremonial, but hanging billboards [with the words “Your Excellency”] — diplomatic etiquette implies such addresses, but they are usually reserved for correspondence or during formal meetings — and other elements [in Kazakhstan] are designed to emphasize the status of the invited guest.

Putin's plane landed on the evening of November 27. At the foot of the steps, he was greeted by Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. An honor guard was lined up at the airport. Children waving flags of the two countries welcomed Putin and members of the official Russian delegation.

The press service of the president reports that artist Asel Sabyrzhankzy (Assol) presented the presidents with an unfinished painting, which she began working on when Putin departed for Astana. She invited Tokayev and Putin to “participate in painting the canvas.” They added a few strokes with dark paint. The painting depicts Tokayev's residence Akorda and the Moscow Kremlin.

The ceremonial part continued at Akorda. Tokayev met Putin, who arrived by car, at the building of his residence. After introducing the members of the delegations and performing the national anthems, negotiations began in both narrow and expanded formats.

— I want to thank the president for such a ceremonial meeting first of all. Kassym-Jomart Kemelovich, — Putin began his speech, almost flawlessly pronouncing the name and patronymic of the president of Kazakhstan, — we meet regularly and have somehow gotten used to a mmm... working atmosphere.

— This ceremonial setting is somewhat unusual, — the Russian leader added with a smirk.

During the meeting, Putin invited Tokayev to an informal CIS summit in St. Petersburg in December and to the military parade on May 9 in Moscow.

Parades on Red Square to commemorate the victory over Nazi Germany in 1945 are held annually. While two decades ago dozens of foreign leaders attended the event in the Russian capital, in recent years only a few high-ranking guests have arrived. Tokayev attended the parade in Moscow this year and last year (Kazakhstan has not held parades since 2019: initially, the cancellation was explained by the pandemic quarantine, and later by the need to save funds).

Astana and Moscow report that the agenda of the Kazakhstan-Russia negotiations on November 27 includes “issues of further development of strategic partnership and alliance in various areas.”

Tokayev stated during the negotiations that Kazakhstan and Russia have intensified cooperation in recent years.

— The agenda of your visit is quite extensive. In anticipation of the visit, members of the governments worked together, discussing all the issues on the agenda. Today we will adopt very important documents — 20 agreements that will undoubtedly give an additional powerful impetus to the further development of our good neighborliness and cooperation, — quotes Tokayev's press service.

— The mutual volume of cooperation is increasing: it is already near $30 billion. Despite all the complexities of today, this interaction is only expanding and becoming more interesting and mutually beneficial for both sides. We have spoken not only about industry and finance, but tomorrow we will also discuss such a crucial component today as security, — already within the CSTO framework, — said Putin, announcing a session of the Collective Security Council of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, which will take place in Astana on November 28.

On the day of the Russian president's visit, the state newspaper “Kazakhstan Pravda” published an article by Putin, while the Russian “Izvestia” printed a publication by Tokayev.

In the article, Putin expresses gratitude to Tokayev for supporting the Russian language.

“We are, of course, grateful to the leadership of the Republic of Kazakhstan, personally to Kassym-Jomart Kemelovich for the careful attitude towards the Russian language and for the important initiative to establish the International Organization for the Russian Language, the activities of which will help promote it as a means of interstate and interethnic communication,” — says the article authored by Putin.

There are thousands of schools in Kazakhstan that use the Russian language of instruction. According to Putin, three more will soon be opened in Kyzylorda, Taraz, and Turkestan — cities in the south of the country where most of the population are Kazakhs.

Shortly before Putin's arrival, the Mazhilis approved the ratification of the agreement on the international organization for promoting the Russian language. The initiative to create this structure came from Tokayev in 2022.

In expert circles, Tokayev's proposal and subsequent steps are regarded as a diplomatic gesture aimed at appeasing Russia and an attempt by Astana to avoid a fate similar to Ukraine. When entering the neighboring country, Moscow in 2022 claimed to protect the rights of the Russian-speaking population of Ukraine.

In his article in “Kazpravda,” Putin wrote about economic cooperation, growth in trade turnover, and investments. He emphasized the readiness of the Russian state corporation “Rosatom” to cooperate with Kazakhstan, which last month held a referendum on the construction of a nuclear power plant. According to official data, over 71 percent of voters approved the construction of the NPP.

“The Russian state corporation, which possesses unique competencies and technical solutions that often have no global analogs, is ready for new large-scale projects with the Kazakh side,” — wrote the president of Russia.

According to the Kazakh government, applications from companies from Russia, China, France, and South Korea are being considered for construction. On the day of the referendum, Tokayev expressed the opinion that the NPP should be built by an international consortium.

In the article in “Izvestia,” Tokayev mentioned “large-scale joint activities in energy,” including involving Russia in the construction of coal-fired thermal power plants in three cities in Kazakhstan and modernizing the Ekibastuz GRES.

Neither Tokayev nor Putin mentioned in their articles the military invasion of Russia into Ukraine, which has been ongoing for almost three years.

The Russian president emphasized that Astana and Moscow “stand from similar positions regarding the key role of international law in interstate relations and the necessity of considering the interests of all countries in matters of global security, stability, and sustainable development.”

The president of Kazakhstan concluded the article by assuring that Kazakhstan has been and remains “a reliable strategic partner and ally of Russia in this conflict-ridden and tumultuous period of history.”