Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to freeze the war in Ukraine and resume negotiations under the “Istanbul 2.0” framework. Tokayev made the remarks during a meeting with Putin at the 22nd Russia-Kazakhstan Interregional Cooperation Forum in Omsk on Saturday, July 25, according to Russian state news agency Interfax.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. “Maybe this conflict should already be frozen and we should return to the Istanbul 2.0 formula, as significant results were achieved there. Naturally, under the guarantees of the great powers, including Russia, and to move further toward a long-awaited peace,” Tokayev said during the meeting. Tokayev stated that the nature of the conflict is not entirely clear to many, including Kazakhstan. He contrasted it with the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia, which he described as having clear historical roots, arguing that the current war is much harder to understand. “All this needs to be stopped, the opposite plays into the hands of the opponents of the Russian Federation,” the Kazakh president stated. During the exchange, Tokayev also praised Putin for demonstrating “political flexibility” during the August 2025 summit with US President Donald Trump in Anchorage, Alaska. Putin responded that he would brief Tokayev on the situation regarding Ukraine. Tokayev’s reference to the Anchorage talks follows recent statements by the US government rejecting the Russian narrative surrounding the summit.