> Kazakhstan is a client state, like Belarus.

It's a client, but not quite like (certainly, not as cooperative as) Belarus. But, for the USSR, that was true of Afghanistan before the Soviet invasion, too, but the invasion still happened.

And Kazakhstan turned down the public request Russia made for troops for Ukraine, a request that would not have been publicly made if Putin didn't expect a positive response, and declined to recognize the DPR and LPR.

now that's a public humiliation no mega-ego dictator forgets... I guess we will soon start hearing about kazakh nazis running whole country