NUR-SULTAN, December 28. /TASS/. Kazakhstan and Russia have built exemplary relations, Kazakhstan’s former First President Nursultan Nazarbayev said at a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg on Tuesday.

"The ties between Kazakhstan and Russia are a shining example of relations. We have cultivated exemplary relations with you. I hope that this will continue under the new president [of Kazakhstan], since we are God-given neighbors with one another. We should not abandon this, it is for [our] mutual benefit," Nazarbayev said, addressing Putin.

He also favors the expansion of observers and members of the Eurasian Economic Union. "Our task is to develop the Eurasian Economic Union further, to accept associated members, observers. Everyone will better understand how beneficial it is. This union working in a consensus does not infringe or impose limits on anyone," Nazarbayev specified.