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Kazakh president raises concern over new conflicts in post-Soviet states

The Kazakh president spoke at a festive ceremony to confer top military and special ranks in the run-up to Defender of Fatherland Day celebrated in Kazakhstan on May 7

NUR-SULTAN, May 6. /TASS/. President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev of Kazakhstan raised his concern over new conflicts erupting in countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), among them those states that border his country, the presidential press office reported on Thursday.

The Kazakh president spoke at a festive ceremony to confer top military and special ranks in the run-up to Defender of Fatherland Day celebrated in Kazakhstan on May 7.

"Experts believe that the current standoff between the superpowers is comparable to the situation during the Cold War era. Conflicts are emerging in CIS countries, including neighboring states. New disputes have been piled on to old conflicts and the situation is getting worse, which is cause for our concern. That is why we must not stay complacent, national defense requires iron discipline. The army and security agencies must always be ready to ward off external threats," Tokayev stressed.

Amid global cataclysms and worldwide geostrategic instability, the role of military servicemen is progressively on the rise, the Kazakh leader pointed out.

"The state pays close attention to the armed forces’ combat readiness and their provision with armaments. The most advanced models of armaments and military hardware are systemically arriving for the troops. The level of the military personnel’s salaries and their social net are rising stage by stage. All-out support for military servicemen will always be among the state’s top priorities," the Kazakh president emphasized.

The latest conflict in the post-Soviet state erupted on April 28 on the border between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan near the Golovnoy water intake facility, which each side considers as its own territory, after skirmishes had sparked between residents of the two countries’ border areas. On April 29, armed clashes between Kyrgyz and Tajik servicemen broke out.

Kyrgyzstan accused Tajikistan of using automatic weapons, mortars and Mi-24 combat helicopters in those clashes. On the evening of April 29, the sides agreed to a ceasefire and the pullout of troops, however, hostilities continued periodically in certain locations until May 1.