Vladimir Putin said Russia views Kazakhstan as one of its closest allies

Russia views Kazakhstan as one of its closest allies, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said at negotiations with Kazakh Prime Minister Karim Masimov in Astana on Thursday. "The level of coordination of the steps between Russia and Kazakhstan is very high, and we view Kazakhstan as a very close ally," he said.
"This concerns all areas of our interaction, including, surely, the economic component," Putin said. "Against the background of the global economic and financial problems, it is natural that our enterprises that cooperate with each other may have some questions," Putin said. "This even more vividly demonstrates the need to further develop our interaction," Putin said. "Our economic relations are diversified very much. This includes the mineral, machine-building, energy, high technology, and other sectors," he said.