Rice: US not trying to undermine Russia

BY ROBERT BURNS

Astana, Kazakhstan

Oct. 5: US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice on Sunday rejected any suggestion that US efforts to build closer ties to this former Soviet republic are meant to undermine Russian influence in Central Asia.

"This is not a zero-sum game," Ms Rice told reporters flying with her to the Kazakh capital. US gains need not mean Russian losses, she said.

"First of all, Kazakhstan is an independent country. It can have friendships with whomever it wishes," she said. "That’s perfectly acceptable in the 21st century, so we don’t see and don’t accept any notion of a special sphere of influence" for Russia in this region.

Ms Rice was scheduled to meet with President Nursultan Nazarbayev; her Kazakhstan counterpart, foreign minister Marat Tazhin; and PM Karim Masimov. Ms Rice is leading US efforts to court Kazakhstan. The top US diplomat planned to stress Kazakhstan’s potential as an energy supplier while democracy and human rights seemed likely to take a back seat. Mr Nazarbayev, the country’s autocratic ruler, has maintained a military alliance and close relations with Russia. He also has kept a door open to the West and looked to develop new export routes to Europe for Kazakhstan’s vast energy resources. But that balancing act has been in doubt since Russia’s invasion of Georgia.

Since Russian forces pushed close to Georgia’s capital before pulling back, US President George W. Bush’s administration has tried to signal its commitment to countries in the Caucuses and Central Asia.

—AP