ASTANA: Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived early Tuesday (Feb 28) in Kazakhstan on a trip aimed at boosting the US role in Central Asia, where giant neighbour Russia's invasion of Ukraine has prompted fears. Kazakh officials greeted the top US diplomat after midnight in subzero temperatures on the w
ASTANA: Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived early Tuesday in Kazakhstan on a trip aimed at boosting the US role in Central Asia, where giant neighbour Russia's invasion of Ukraine has prompted fears.
In Astana, he will also meet with the foreign ministers of all five former Soviet republics in Central Asia -- which also include Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan. Central Asian nations have longstanding security and economic relationships with Russia but, unlike fellow former Soviet republic Belarus, they have not rallied behind Moscow on the war.
President Vladimir Putin's justifications for the war, which included deploring the treatment of Russian speakers in Ukraine, have rattled nerves in Central Asian nations with sizable Russian minorities.
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