Kazakhstan Security

The United States has told Ukraine and Kazakhstan that it will come to their aid diplomatically if Russia ever threatens them with nuclear weapons but will not promise to defend them with military force, Secretary of State James A. Baker III said Tuesday. The two republics have promised to hand their nuclear weapons over to Russia, but in exchange they have asked Western countries for security guarantees--complaining that they will feel vulnerable to their giant nuclear-armed neighbor.

The president of Kazakhstan said Wednesday that Russia might deploy new long-range nuclear missiles in his republic in the future, even though he has agreed to eliminate the weapons during the next seven years. But U.S. officials said they were confident that Russia has no interest in stationing any missiles outside its borders, and they predicted that the details of an agreement with all four nuclear-equipped republics of the former Soviet Union can be wrapped up this weekend.

The president of Kazakhstan said Wednesday that Russia might deploy new long-range nuclear missiles in his republic in the future, even though he has agreed to eliminate the weapons during the next seven years. But U.S. officials said they were confident that Russia has no interest in stationing any missiles outside its borders, and they predicted that the details of an agreement with all four nuclear-equipped republics of the former Soviet Union can be wrapped up this weekend.

The United States has told Ukraine and Kazakhstan that it will come to their aid diplomatically if Russia ever threatens them with nuclear weapons but will not promise to defend them with military force, Secretary of State James A. Baker III said Tuesday. The two republics have promised to hand their nuclear weapons over to Russia, but in exchange they have asked Western countries for security guarantees--complaining that they will feel vulnerable to their giant nuclear-armed neighbor.

After months of dickering, the Central Asian republic of Kazakhstan agreed Tuesday to give up all the nuclear weapons on its territory, a move that will leave Russia as the only nuclear power among the states of the former Soviet Union. Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, who had argued earlier that his nation should be allowed to keep some long-range nuclear missiles, told President Bush in a White House meeting that he will accede to the U.S.

Kazakhstan's decision to transfer half a ton of weapons-grade uranium to the United States involved months of top-secret negotiations, assembly of a garage-size processing facility in remote Ulba and a clandestine airlift, U.S. officials said Wednesday. Details of the operation, which was designed to prevent the uranium from falling into the hands of rogue Third World governments, were revealed Wednesday, a day after U.S.

A bitterly cold wind was blasting across the open steppe, making it so hard for President Nursultan A. Nazarbayev to catch his breath that he could barely speak while inspecting a construction site. Nazarbayev has long had big plans for Astana. A decade ago, newspaper editor Vladimir Kochenov recalled, the president's visit here cemented his determination to turn it into a spectacular new capital at the geographic heart of the nation.