Kazakhs won't stay behind new iron curtain

"If there is a new iron curtain, we do not want to be behind it," he said, referring to the Western term for a dividing line between eastern and western Europe during the Cold War.

A raft of Western companies are shuttering businesses in Russia in response to pressure from consumers to take a stand against the invasion of Ukraine.

Kazakhstan has avoided criticising Russia's move to invade a fellow ex-Soviet republic, but Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said this month that all countries must strictly adhere to the norms and principles of the United Nations charter.