Kazakh leader invites Saudi king, crown prince to visit

ALMATY (Reuters) – Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, who has close ties to Turkish leader Tayyip Erdogan, has invited Saudi Arabia’s king and crown prince to visit Kazakhstan at a meeting with another Saudi royal, his office said on Thursday.

It was not clear when the meeting might take place.

The veteran Kazakh leader often gets involved in broader international affairs and was credited with helping to resolve a standoff between Ankara and Moscow over the Turkish downing of a Russian jet near the Turkish-Syrian border in 2015.

The killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul four weeks ago has escalated into a political crisis for Riyadh.