During a visit to Kazakhstan on March 30, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov and Kazakh officials signed a protocol to keep Kazakh crude oil shipments flowing via the Atyrau-Samara pipeline at 15 million tons per annum. Fradkov also said that Kazakhstan was seeking to increase... MORE

After years of touting successful military reform under the direction of former defense minister Army-General Mukhtar Altynbayev, Kazakhstan has announced plans to change the command structure of its troops. Daniyal Akhmetov, the current defense minister, plans systemic reform in order to bring Kazakhstan up to... MORE

The widespread fighting between Chechens and Kazakhs that erupted in Almaty's Enbekshiqazaq district on March 18 were the latest in a long string of ethnic-based conflicts upsetting the densely populated southern regions of Kazakhstan. The melee caused several deaths and dozens of serious injuries. According... MORE

Kazakhstan’s military has been plagued by financial mismanagement, corruption and bribery, a lack of professionalism, and poor housing conditions for military officers. The recent Kazakh air force fighter jet crash in Central Kazakhstan -- which killed two military pilots -- is the result of these... MORE

On a visit to Astana on February 27-28, Azerbaijan’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Elmar Mammadyarov took the initiative to discuss possible exports of gas from Kazakhstan through the proposed gas pipeline on the Caspian seabed (Kazakhstan Today, Turan, February 28). In his talks with Kazakh... MORE

Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev has invited Turkmenistan’s newly elected President Gurbanguly Berdimukhamedov to visit Kazakhstan. While the new Turkmen leader undoubtedly could learn a great deal from Astana in terms of political reforms, the Kazakh model is not without its flaws. Over the last two... MORE

Kazakhstan plans to cooperate more closely with Russia’s defense industries in order to modernize its own armed forces by 2015. The timing of this announcement enabled Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Defense to counter negative publicity surrounding the crash of a MiG-31 on February 16, which resulted... MORE

Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s February 2 visit to Ukraine appeared to be an ill-timed event that triggered controversial speculations in light of the recent gas row between Belarus and Russia and the lingering standoff between Moscow and Kyiv on energy issues. But under the circumstances,... MORE

President Nursultan Nazarbayev has moved to deepen the level of Kazakhstan’s cooperation with Germany. On January 30, during a visit to Germany, Nazarbayev explored ways to increase existing bilateral political, trade, economic, cultural, and humanitarian cooperation with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Reportedly, both leaders share... MORE

One of the more puzzling turns in Kazakhstan’s recent cabinet reshuffle was the replacement of Foreign Minister Kasymzhomart Tokayev, a professionally trained and skilled diplomat, by the dark horse Marat Tazhin, who had made an inconspicuous career as a chairman of the Security Council and... MORE