TURKMENISTAN REJECTS STORY ON UKRAINIAN ARMS SHIPMENTS TO TALIBAN.

Turkmenistan’s Foreign Ministry has dismissed as "crude and deliberate lies" Afghan warlord Abdul Rashid Dostum’s allegations in Moscow media about Ukrainian arms deliveries to Taliban forces in Afghanistan via Turkmenistan in return for Afghan drugs. The Ministry’s official statement traced the "misinformation" to Russian intelligence "using old-style Soviet methods in order to "pressure Turkmenistan" and discredit its neutrality. It asked the Russian government to curb such allegations. (Interfax, April 11; Ashgabat Television, April 9)

Moscow Reaffirms Friendly Relations with Tehran.