Russia is one of the key economic partners of Kazakhstan in terms of trade and investments. The countries jointly implement many important projects. However, since the Ukrainian invasion and international sanctions and pressure, economic cooperation with Russia may bring substantial costs for Kazakhstan and other Central Asian countries. Therefore, this commentary aims to analyze Russia’s role in Kazakhstan’s economy, reveal potential risks from economic cooperation and provide policy recommendations. Analysis of bilateral trade figures between the two countries demonstrates that the volume of the trade turnover increased substantially.
PDFAzimzhan Khitakhunov is a research fellow at the Eurasian Research Institute. He has received his bachelor, master and Ph.D. degrees from Al-Farabi Kazakh National University (Ph.D. degree was completed in cooperation with the Johns Hopkins University, School of Advanced International Studies, Bologna, Italy). Currently, he is a senior lecturer at Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, Higher School of Economics and Business, Economics Department, where he teaches macroeconomics related disciplines. His research experience includes participation as a research fellow in the government financed f