KAZAKHSTAN OPPOSES RUSSIAN ENCROACHMENT ON ITS CASPIAN SECTOR.

Kazakh foreign minister Kasymzhomart Tokaev announced yesterday in a Russian press interview that Almaty will legally challenge Russia’s recently announced oil and gas prospection tender in the Caspian Sea. The Russian tender encompasses zones that are partly situated in Kazakhstan’s sector as defined by the median line, Tokaev said. He added that Almaty would cooperate also with Russian companies, in addition to Western ones, "if Russian companies were capable of developing the Kazakhstani sector’s resources" — implying that this was not the case. (Russian agencies, September 18)

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