OREANDA-NEWS. President of Russia Vladimir Putin, ex-president of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev and the current president of the country Kasym-Zhomart Tokayev held phone talks. This is reported on Thursday, March 21, by the press-cutting service of the Kremlin.

“It was agreed on close cooperation in the interests of further deepening of the partnership between Russia and Kazakhstan,” the Kremlin press-cutting message says.

During the talks, Putin thanked Nazarbayev for his significant personal contribution to the evolution of relations between Russian Federation and Kazakhstan, and also felicitated Kasym-Zhomart Tokayev on accepting the authority, wishing him to successfully conduct his future work.

Earlier it was reported that the head of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, on March 19 announced he decided to resign. However, he is not leaving the political stage - the former President of Kazakhstan (who was in this post since 1990) will take authority as the head of the Security Council of the country. Then, on March 20, Kasym-Zhomart Tokayev, who has previously been the head of the upper house of the country's parliament, took the place of Nazarbayev.

Putin discussed with Tokayev and Nazarbayev the visit of the current President of Kazakhstan to the Russian Federation in the nearest future. Russian leader also expressed his gratitude to Nazarbayev for the successful implementation of the Eurasian integration project.

"The confidence was expressed [by Putin] that the first ever president of Kazakhstan will be actively participating in the work on strengthening of cooperation in the context of the Eurasian Economic Union," the Kremlin press-cutting service commented.