Kazakhstan understands Russia's actions in Georgia and urges the international community to stop raising the specter of a new Cold War, President Nursultan Nazarbayev said Thursday.
"I relate with understanding to all the measures that have been taken by Russia," said the Kazakh leader as he met with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on the sidelines of a summit in the Tajik capital of Dushanbe.
"I would very much like international opinion to move toward peace and understanding, without constant announcements about the Cold War," said Nazarbayev.
The bilateral meeting took place on the sidelines of a summit of the six-nation Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a regional grouping dominated by Moscow and Beijing.
Leaders at the summit called on all sides to "peacefully resolve" the Georgia conflict while expressing support for Russia's "active role" to reach this goal.
Russia is facing an avalanche of condemnation from the West over its recognition of the independence of the two Georgian regions at the center of the conflict this month. But Chinese President Hu Jintao and leaders of the Central Asian states failed to follow Russia's lead on independence for South Ossetia and Abkhazia.