In his annual message to the nation, delivered on February 18, Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev made yet another well-calculated move to polish his personal image as an ardent supporter of Central Asian integration. "I propose creating a Union of Central Asian states," he announced. Indulging... MORE

In his annual message to the nation last April, Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev expressed concerns about the worsening demographic situation in the country. He challenged government agencies to boost population growth in order to reach a population of 20 million people by the year 2015.... MORE

Recently police in the small town of Kentai, Kazakhstan, discovered a cache of books and leaflets propagating the ideas of Hizb-ut-Tahrir, an Islamist radical organization. The extremist literature, hidden in the attic of a private house, was printed in Uzbek, Russian, and Kazakh. While police... MORE

At a press conference held on February 2, the chairman of the Almaty-based Russian Observer Research Center, Fedor Miroglov, revealed that ethnic Russians living in Kazakhstan are being illegally recruited to serve in the Russian army. He said that in 2003 more than 100 Russians... MORE

Last month the government of Kazakhstan approved a new strategy for developing the country's hydroelectric energy resources. Kazakhstan plans to build 20 power stations, with a total capacity of 4.8 kilowatts per hour, by the year 2015. Most of the stations will be located in... MORE

Kazakhstan's Deputy Defense Minister, Major-General Bolat Sembinov, concluded a successful series of meetings with senior NATO officials in Brussels on January 21. The meetings signify a clear turning point in Kazakhstan's relations with the Alliance, seeking mechanisms through which the Kazakhstani armed forces may benefit... MORE

The Russia-Kazakhstan border delimitation agreement concluded during President Nursultan Nazarbayev's January 17 visit to Moscow was heralded as an historic accord. It was the first such agreement ever signed between Caspian states and took five years to conclude. Now, for the first time in its... MORE

Police in Almaty have detained supporters of the Islamic organization Hizb-ut-Tahrir who had organized an unauthorized demonstration close to the central city mosque on the morning of January 20. The police media department told the Interfax-Kazakhstan news agency: "Police officers detained almost all demonstration participants,... MORE

On January 12 Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Almaty for a two-day official visit, his first foreign trip of the new year. Abandoning the usual practice of announcing upcoming visits by state leaders, Kazakhstan's official media refrained from publicizing Putin's visit prior to his... MORE