According to the office, Foreign Ministers Wang Yi and Sergei Lavrov discussed these issues a few hours ago in a telephone conversation and determined that their countries – as permanent members of the United Nations Security Council – must prevent chaos from breaking out in the area. They agreed to deepen coordination and cooperation, oppose interference in the internal affairs of nations in the region, and curb “color revolutions” and insurrections by the three forces of terrorism, separatism and extremism.

“The two sides should play up their respective strengths to the full, help Central Asian countries fight the (Covid-19) pandemic, develop their economies and strive to eliminate the breeding ground for unrest in society,” Wang said.

He also proposed supporting the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) in order to jointly and effectively address various challenges to regional security.

Meanwhile, Lavrov referred to the role of external forces in the Kazakh protests, updated Wang on progressive control of the situation and the deployment of CSTO troops at the request of the local government.

The foreign ministers also reviewed the state of bilateral ties and the planned trip to China by Russian President Vladimir Putin to attend the opening of the 24th Beijing-2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympics early next month.

Wang Yi stressed that this visit “will be an important event in international relations at the beginning of this year,” because it will also bring about a face-to-face meeting with his host counterpart, Xi Jinping.

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