NOVO-OGAREVO, September 30. / TASS /. Russia is willing to help Kazakhstan restore its population of Turanian tigers, President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday at a plenary session of the 17th Russia-Kazakhstan Interregional Cooperation Forum.

"We will be glad to support [this project] both at the government and expert levels. Our specialists, who have accumulated very good experience in recent years, will definitely be interested in it <…>," Putin noted.

During the forum, the Russian leader showed interest in the report on plans to restore the population of tigers delivered by Kazakhstan’s Minister of Ecology, Geology, and Natural Resources Serikkali Brekeshev. President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev explained that the last time Turanian tigers were seen in modern Kazakhstan was in the 1930s, then the animals disappeared. "Currently, we are developing a global project to restore the population of the tigers. We invite Russian specialists to take part in this exciting project <…>," the Kazakh president stated.

Commenting on how the population can be repopulated, Tokayev suggested that biologists would take Russian tigers as the basis for further research. In response, Putin recalled Russia’s experience in restoring the populations of some animals such as the Caucasian leopard and the Siberian snow leopard.

"It’s certainly a challenging task <…>. The specialists from other countries are helping us, we also have the status of UNESCO and other international organizations. And, of course, Russia’s support will be essential here," the Kazakh president concluded.