** Editor's note : this image is distributed by the Russian state owned agency Sputnik **
In this pool photograph distributed by the Russian state agency Sputnik, Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko attends a meeting of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) in Astana on November 28, 2024. Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Kazakhstan on November 27, 2024 for a two-day trip aimed at shoring up ties with his Central Asian allies as tensions mount over the Ukraine war. Kazakhstan is a member of the Moscow-led CSTO security alliance but has expressed concern about the almost three-year conflict, which Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has refused to condone. (Photo by Gavriil Grigorov / POOL / AFP)