Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov described statements about Kazakhstan being Russia's backyard as stupid and part of an information war against Russia.
Peskov said: "This is all stupidity. This is all an information war. Kazakhstan is a sovereign state that works to develop cooperation in all possible directions and without bias."
He pointed out that Kazakhstan is a strategic partner of Russia, "and guided by this advanced strategic partnership, we are working to develop our special relations with Kazakhstan, and these relations are very broad."
He continued: "The prospects are broad. Therefore, we will develop our relations. These are relations that depend on mutual respect, mutual benefit, and a true alliance where no one imposes or dictates anything on the other. This is what we defend."
In turn, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said earlier, commenting on this: “The European Union does not hide its intentions to deter us in every possible way and its attempts to expel us from Central Asia and Transcaucasia... This will never be achieved, as we are there historically and we will not disappear from wherever we are.” “Our partners and allies know this well.”
He added: "It is not in the media. Even the leaders of the Western world allow themselves to make somewhat rude statements."
Medvedev: Europe is boiling
Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, considered that European calls to accept Ukraine into NATO without Crimea and Donbass are an admission that these lands are not Ukrainian, stressing that Ukraine is not a state.
He wrote on Telegram: “Europe is boiling, and hundreds of thousands of people are demonstrating against Western support for violence in Gaza. Under the guise of bloodshed in the Middle East, some current and former NATO officials are spreading new ideas about Ukraine and proposing its acceptance into the alliance.” "Without Crimea and Donbass. This means that these regions are definitely no longer Ukrainian from their point of view and concept."
Medvedev pointed out that this new implicit acknowledgment of the West "is good, and they must continue with this approach and also acknowledge that Odessa, Nikolaev, Kiev, and every region is not Ukraine."
He added: "After that, there are three things left for them to acknowledge the reality, which is to acknowledge that Zelensky, who does not announce the elections, is not a president but rather monopolizes power, and that the Ukrainian language is not a language but rather a mixture of Russian and Ukrainian words, and that Ukraine is not a state, but rather regions that have been grouped into One administrative entity during the Soviet Union.
Activists try to prevent Le Pen from participating in a march against anti-Semitism
A group of political activists tried to prevent representatives of the National Rally Party and the leader of the parliamentary faction of this party, Marine Le Pen, from participating in a march against anti-Semitism organized in Paris.
The incident occurred during a gathering of a large number of demonstrators, and a group of activists tried to prevent the participation of politicians, chanting that there is no place for these politicians in this gathering, and accusing them of anti-Semitism, including Marine Le Pen personally.
While Marine Le Pen said: "It's exactly where I should be."
At the same time, she refused to answer questions about her position on the accusations of anti-Semitism against her.
Earlier, calls by the presidents of the French Senate and House of Representatives for a “great march” in Paris to reject anti-Semitism sparked widespread controversy in French political circles.
The leftist "France Proud" party, led by Jean-Luc Mélenchon, also announced that it would boycott the march, describing it as a meeting of "friends of unconditional support for murder."