KAZAKSTAN WORRIED BY RUSSIAN COSSACK DEPLOYMENT.

A session of Kazakstan’s Security Council, chaired by president Nursultan Nazarbaev, has expressed concern over the deployment by Russia’s border troops of Cossack paramilitary detachments on the Russian side of the common border. The deployment contravenes existing bilateral agreements, one official said. (Interfax, April 23; see also Perspective section below) Moscow has disregarded several recent protests from Almaty on the issue.

Russian-Chinese Summit Yields Joint Declaration.