Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has criticized men who hug or kiss each other when meeting, saying traditional forms of greeting should be preserved.

Axar.az reports, citing Kazakhstan's media, that speaking to journalists after voting in the parliamentary elections in Astana, Tokayev said people should remember their “inherited traditions” and questioned the practice of men embracing, particularly among military personnel.

“It is not right when men start hugging each other, kissing, women kiss men, men kiss women. This was never in our customs. Especially people in military uniform. Generals start hugging each other. What is this?” Tokayev said.

“Can you imagine marshals of the Soviet Union, marshals victorious in the World War, in the Great Patriotic War, hugging each other, kissing each other?” he added.

Tokayev said men should instead shake hands firmly and greet each other with a smile.

“Men should shake hands with each other, press it firmly, not offer a hand like a warm cutlet or a twig, and greet with a smile, but no more than that,” he said.

Tokayev also said he had initiated a new code of conduct.