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

Massive banners proclaiming "Your Excellency, Mr. Vladimir Putin, welcome to Astana!" can be seen everywhere. The tricolor is displayed on the streets, and in the sky, six military planes "paint" white, blue, and red stripes above the airport — this is how the capital of Kazakhstan welcomes the president of a neighboring country.

“They overdid it” — wrote a Facebook user from Astana, posting a photo of the streets adorned with Russian flags. Posts about the abundance of tricolor on the day of Putin's arrival flooded Kaznet. The greeting featuring the words “Your Excellency” outraged some users.

Kazakh political analyst Gaziz Abishev explained in his telegram channel that Putin's visit is state-level, and thus it is met with grandeur, while the phrase “Your Excellency” is a standard form of address for high-ranking representatives of foreign states.

Similar forms of address, but in Kazakh (“Жоғары мәртебелі”) and in the native languages of visiting state leaders, have already been displayed in Astana. However, they did not create a stir. Perhaps the heightened attention to the greeting this time is due to the identity of the guest.

Putin is effectively 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 a warrant for Putin's arrest on charges of war crimes.

— Putin's image has suffered significantly. Akorda has done everything possible to revive it, playing into what the Kremlin and Putin personally need, — believes political analyst Dimash Alzhanov. — State visits can indeed be ceremonial, but the display of billboards [with the words “Your Excellency”] — diplomatic etiquette implies such address, but in correspondence or during formal meetings — and other things [in Kazakhstan] are done to emphasize the status of the invited person.

Putin's plane landed on the evening of November 27. He was greeted at the foot of the ramp by Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. An honor guard was lined up at the airport. Children with flags of both countries welcomed Putin and members of the official Russian delegation.

The president's press service reports that artist Asel Sabyrzhankzy (Assol) presented the presidents with an unfinished painting that she began creating from the moment Putin's flight to Astana. She invited Tokayev and Putin to "take part 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 in Akorda. Tokayev greeted Putin, who arrived by car at the entrance to his residence. After introducing the delegation members and playing national anthems, negotiations began in both narrow and expanded formats.

— I want to thank the president first of all for such a ceremonial meeting. Kassym-Jomart Kemelevich, — 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 mmm... a working environment.

— Such a ceremonial atmosphere is somewhat unusual, — the Russian leader added with a smile.

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

Parades on Red Square commemorating the victory over Nazi Germany in 1945 are held annually. If 20 years ago dozens of foreign leaders attended the event in the Russian capital, in recent years only a few high-ranking guests have come. Tokayev attended the parade in Moscow this year and last year (parades have not been held in Kazakhstan since 2019: initially, the cancellation was attributed to pandemic quarantine, then to 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 fields.”

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

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

— The mutual volume of cooperation is increasing: it is already approaching 30 billion dollars. Despite all the challenges of today, this interaction is only expanding and becoming more interesting and mutually beneficial for both sides. We talked not only about industry and finance, but tomorrow we will also discuss such a crucial component as security — already within the framework of the CSTO, — said Putin, announcing the 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, a article by Putin was published in the state newspaper "Kazakhstan Truth," while the Russian "Izvestia" printed an article 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 Kemelevich 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 promote its advancement as a means of interstate and interethnic communication,” — reads the article authored by Putin.

In Kazakhstan, thousands of schools operate with Russian as the language of instruction. According to Putin, three more will soon open in Kyzylorda, Taraz, and Turkestan — cities in the south of the country where the majority 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 originated in 2022 from Tokayev.

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

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

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

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

In the article in "Izvestia," Tokayev reported on "large-scale joint activities in energy," including involving Russia in the construction of coal-fired thermal power plants in three cities of 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 nearly three years.

The Russian president emphasized that Astana and Moscow “stand on 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 complex period of history filled with conflicts and cataclysms.”