U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met leaders in Central Asia, writes Reuters.

Blinken’s visit to the capitals of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan was his first to the region as the Biden administration’s top diplomat.

“We are watching compliance with sanctions very closely and we’re having an ongoing discussion with number of countries, including our C5 partners, on the economic spillover effects”, - Blinken said at a news conference after a meeting with officials of the five Central Asian states in the Kazakh capital Astana.

In Astana, Blinken met Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, who was re-elected in a landslide in November and has pushed back publicly against territorial claims made by Russian President Vladimir Putin in Ukraine.

“We have built very good and reliable long-term partnerships in so many strategically important areas like security, energy, trade and investments”, - Tokayev told Blinken as they met at the imposing presidential palace.

Blinken earlier told Foreign Minister Mukhtar Tileuberdi that Washington supports the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Kazakhstan.