Road work: Putin's visit to Kazakhstan will boost transport projects in Eurasia
The Russian-Kazakh negotiations will accelerate the implementation of a number of joint projects, including the North–South transport corridor. The countries are working on the creation of a single logistics operator along the eastern route, the head of the Ministry of Transport, Andrey Nikitin, told Izvestia. During Vladimir Putin's three-day visit to the republic, an agreement on the construction of its first nuclear power plant is expected to be signed. But the political context cannot be avoided. Experts are sure that Moscow will definitely touch on the Ukrainian issue due to the threats of attacks by the Ukrainian Armed Forces on the Druzhba oil pipeline and the Russian regions. Finally, the upcoming EAEU summit in Astana will determine Armenia's future in this union.
How Kazakhstan and the Russian Federation are developing global logistics and transport
Vladimir Putin arrived in Astana on a state visit, which immediately acquired special significance. At the airport, the Russian leader was met by President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. On the same day, the heads of state held an informal friendly one-on-one lunch.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev during the welcoming ceremony
Full-scale bilateral talks will take place on Thursday, May 28. Their importance is evidenced by the impressive composition of the Russian delegation of more than 30 people — nine ministers, Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk, head of the Central Bank Elvira Nabiullina, employees of the presidential administration, state corporations and large business structures. Moreover, the visit is also linked to a large—scale event - the summit of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), which will be held on May 29.
Obviously, the key topics of the negotiations will be joint projects of the Russian Federation and Kazakhstan in the field of transport and logistics, primarily the North–South International Transport corridor (ITC). Andrey Nikitin, the head of the Ministry of Transport, who joined the Russian delegation, told Izvestia that Moscow and Astana are actively working to increase the volume of transportation along the eastern route of the MTK.
— Kazakhstan and Russia are simultaneously removing administrative barriers and creating favorable conditions for carriers. The issue of creating a joint Russian‑Kazakh‑Turkmen logistics operator is being considered. Work is underway to create an end—to—end transportation service and reach agreements with Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, both in bilateral and multilateral formats," the minister said.
He recalled that the eastern route of the MTK — through Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan to Iran — has been developing since September 2022, when Russian Railways launched a regular container service. For its operation, all four participants agreed and introduced uniform tariff conditions. In 2025, the volume of container shipments by rail to South Asia, Africa and the Middle East increased by 60%, and the average delivery time decreased from 33 to 16 days.
According to experts, the creation of a single operator and an end-to-end container delivery service will make it possible to assemble the route into a single commercial system. First of all, it will save money and reduce transportation time: the carrier will be able to buy one "ticket" for the entire journey, so as not to stand at borders and not pay separately to each country for the transit of goods.
However, the development of the North–South Military-industrial complex depends not only on Russia and Kazakhstan, but also, accordingly, on Iran, which is currently in direct conflict with the United States.
— I would not expect anything very breakthrough yet, given the unstable situation in the Middle East. In addition, the development of the transport corridor is a rather lengthy process of building the necessary communications. Nevertheless, we will probably hear something new about the progress of this project following the discussion," Sergei Margulis, senior lecturer at the Department of International Politics and Foreign Regional Studies at the ION Presidential Academy, told Izvestia.
Moscow and Astana are developing another promising project — the China–Europe (or Europe – Western China) transcontinental railway route. It is considered as the basis of China's global megaproject "One Belt— One Road". From China to Europe, goods transit through three countries — Russia, Kazakhstan, and Belarus, traveling two to three times faster than, for example, through the Suez Canal.
Amid the conflict in the Middle East, demand for this route has increased as expected. In March 2026, the volume of container shipments between China and Europe through the territory of these countries increased by 45% — from 21 thousand tons to 31 thousand tons of TEU (the twenty-foot equivalent is a conventional unit of measurement for the capacity of cargo ships for container transportation).
What else will Putin and Tokayev talk about?
In addition to transport, cooperation in the energy sector will be the most important topic in the bilateral negotiations. First of all, this concerns the transit of Kazakh oil, which until recently went through the territory of the Russian Federation to Germany through the Druzhba pipeline. However, on May 1, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak announced the suspension of its pumping due to technical issues and fears of damage to the infrastructure by the Armed Forces of Ukraine. As a result, Kazakhstan redirected its oil exports through other channels through Russian ports.
These changes affect about 17% more of the volume of crude oil entering the refinery in Schwedt, Germany, an enterprise of key importance for Berlin, Brandenburg and East Germany, Steffen Kotre, a member of the Bundestag from the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, told Izvestia. He added that the AfD would seek to bring the issue of energy security up for discussion in the German parliament.
Politicians will discuss the transit of Kazakh oil in the context of the Ukrainian conflict, Sergei Margulis believes. The pipeline has been repeatedly threatened by drone attacks by the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and therefore the ongoing fighting in Ukraine only increases the risks to Kazakhstan's energy supplies. Kiev is already hitting the Baltic port in Ust-Luga and the facilities of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) in the Novorossiysk region, where Kazakh raw materials are being redirected, among other things.
Other security issues are likely to be in the spotlight.
— I fully assume that the Ukrainian Armed Forces will try to use the airspace of Kazakhstan to attack the regions of the Urals. There is no doubt that Moscow will discuss this issue with Kazakh and other CSTO partners to one degree or another," the expert stressed.
It is obvious that the leadership of Kazakhstan and Russia will not be able to ignore the problem of Armenia, which is consistently moving away from the EAEU, increasingly flirting with the European Union. Earlier, Russian Presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said that on May 29, the participating countries would discuss Yerevan's possible withdrawal from the EAEU. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan defiantly refused to participate in the summit, preferring a meeting with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Finally, the Kremlin announced that during the visit, Moscow and Astana would conclude an agreement on the construction of the republic's first Balkhash NPP. The project is being implemented under the leadership of Rosatom. Exploration work is currently underway on the shores of Lake Ulken, which is scheduled to be completed by early 2027. Before the commissioning of two reactors with a capacity of 1.2 thousand each. MW will take about another ten years. However, it's worth the wait: nuclear reactors at nuclear power plants will operate for about 100 years.
Thus, Russia and Kazakhstan remain key trading partners in the EAEU and allies in the CSTO. And the leaders of the two states are fully aware of this. Russian Russian President Vladimir Putin published an article "Russia —Kazakhstan: Union in the Heart of Eurasia" on the eve of the visit, where he wrote about the future prosperity of both countries, the loyalty of the Russian and Kazakh peoples and respect for the Russian language. In turn, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev became one of the few leaders who came to the Victory Day Parade in Moscow on May 9. Thus, he expressed unconditional support for Moscow.
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