Kremlin Highlights Putin’s Strong Ties with Central Asian Leaders

Russian President Vladimir Putin regularly communicates with leaders of Central Asian countries and maintains good relations with all of them that helps Russia to build its own relations with Central Asia, Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday.

"Putin regularly communicates with leaders of Central Asia. Moreover, the president has very good and sincere friendly relations with all of them, which make it possible to handle interstate affairs very effectively," Peskov said, The Caspian Post reports, citing TASS.

Speaking about the upcoming summit between the United States and Central Asia, Peskov noted that such communication formats are "widely practiced."

"We have our own format as you may know: Russia - Central Asia, which emerged quite recently. There is China - Central Asia, there is Japan - Central Asia, the EU - Central Asia," he continued.

"Therefore, this is a wide format. It is natural that our friends and partners in Central Asia discuss their relations regarding all possible aspects of their foreign policy," Peskov said.

The Russian presidential spokesman added that Russia values relations with the Central Asian states and Moscow is connected with many of them based on advanced integration processes, including within the framework of the CIS and the EAEU.

"It is about completely different dimensions. On top of all, it is the sole right of any state to build its foreign policy," Peskov added.

Asked whether Putin plans to have telephone conversations with his counterparts from Central Asia following the summit, Peskov replied that the leaders maintain permanent communications and not every phone call is made public.