Russian President Vladimir Putin is certain that new Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev will continue advancing his predecessor Nursultan Nazarbayev’s policy of establishing closer ties with Russia, the Russian leader said in an interview with Mir TV and radio broadcasting company.

Axar.az reports citing Vestnik Kavkaza.

"I have all the grounds to believe that [Tokayev] is a person, who will, undoubtedly, continue the policy, which was initiated by first Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, of closer relations with Russia, developing our alliance, in every sense of this word, in all spheres - industry, agriculture, and high-tech industries, such as, say, space," the President said.

He underlined that Russia and Kazakhstan have large-scale projects and said that Moscow is counting on their future implementation. "I don’t have any grounds to say that any setbacks are awaiting us here," Putin said. "On the contrary, I believe that the more our volume trade increases - and it constantly does so - the more diverse our ties become, the opportunities for both the cooperation between the states and the relationships on the ordinary level between citizens will only be improving." The Russian leader also pointed to the important humanitarian part of the cooperation between the two counties and the multilateral nature of infrastructure projects that Moscow and Nur-Sultan are engaged in.