Source: The Patriot Light | AWK Network | VIEW ORIGINAL POST ==>
The president of Kazakhstan on Monday ordered his country’s military to boost its territorial defence and special operations forces, days before close ally President Vladimir Putin is expected to visit.
Kazakhstan is part of the Moscow-led Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO), a mutual defence alliance, though Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has raised concerns in the Central Asian country.
The former Soviet republic shares a 7,500-kilometre (4,660-mile) border with Russia and is home to Russian military bases.
President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev ordered his defence minister “to “intensify cooperation with domestic defence enterprises, develop territorial defence and the special operations forces,” his office said in a statement.
Putin is set to visit the Kazakh capital of Astana on Wednesday for a CSTO summit.
The Kazakh parliament is currently debating a bill to allow the formation of “self-defence units”, volunteer troops groups that can be integrated into the military and carry out combat missions.
The measures are designed to “improve the country’s defence capability,” and are similar to a model that exists in Ukraine.
Tokayev last…
