Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, has said that there is no need for his country to join the Union State of Russia and Belarus, and that it needs no nuclear weapons either.
[The Union State, or Union State of Russia and Belarus, is a supranational union consisting of Belarus and Russia, with the stated aim of deepening the relationship between the two states through integration in economic and defence policy - ed.].
Source: website of the President of Kazakhstan.
Quote from Takayev: "Alexander Lukashenko, President of the Republic of Belarus, has recently proposed that Kazakhstan join the Union State.
I think there is no need [for Kazakhstan] to do so, as there are other integration associations – first and foremost, the Eurasian Economic Union.
Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has said that in creating the Union State with a single political, military and economic space as well as one nuclear arsenal for the two of them, Russia and Belarus are posing a problem for the other states in the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU).
Self-proclaimed President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko has said that Russia will provide nuclear weapons to any countries that join the Union State of Russia and Belarus. »