Russia’s President Vladimir Putin sent a congratulatory telegram to the new acting president of Kazakhstan, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, hours after he was named the new leader of the Central Asian country.

Tokayev was sworn in as Kazakhstan’s president on Wednesday, a day after Putin’s close ally Nursultan Nazarbayev unexpectedly resigned after three decades in power. Kazakhstan is one of Russia's biggest trading partners and has been its key ally in the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) project.