Kazakhstan does not recognize Taiwan, Kosovo, South Ossetia or Abkhazia, same applies to Donetsk, Luhansk, says Tokayev

President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev declared on Friday that Kazakhstan will not recognize the self-proclaimed independence of Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

“If the right to self-determination is implemented throughout the world, there would be almost 600 countries instead of the 193 countries that make up the United Nations now.” Tokayev remarked at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, “Of sure, that would be anarchy.”

He also stated that Kazakhstan does not recognize Taiwan, Kosovo, South Ossetia, or Abkhazia, as well as Donetsk and Luhansk.

Starting in 2014, when Russia illegally invaded Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula, Donetsk and Luhansk – both areas of Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region bordering Russia – became the scene of a Russian-backed insurgency.

On the eve of Russia’s entry into the Ukraine conflict on February 24, President Vladimir Putin proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk’s “independence.”

All of Donbas, like Crimea, is still internationally recognized as Ukrainian territory, and the country’s armed forces are currently fighting for it.