KAZAK MILITARY UPDATE.

A Kazak paratroop company and 22 U.S. military personnel are completing today a three-day exercise on Kapchagai Lake, 70 kilometers from Almaty. The exercise is described as practicing joint rescue operations in case of natural calamities.

The commander of Russia’s border troops, Gen. Andrei Nikolaev, told the 120-strong "Russian Borders" group of Duma deputies that President Boris Yeltsin supports the deployment of Cossack auxiliaries alongside Russian border troops on the Russia-Kazakstan border. Kazakstan has repeatedly protested the move.

The Foreign Ministry in Almaty "categorically denied" a U.S. press story about alleged plans to sell Kazakstani surface-to-air missiles to Iran. The ministry restated Almaty’s "full commitment" to nonproliferation. Kazakstan’s Defense Ministry last week denied the rumor, pointing out that the country does not produce or own the missiles.

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