(Reuters) – Russia’s security council accused the West on Friday of trying to drive a wedge between Russia and Kazakhstan by interfering in the affairs of sovereign nations, Russia’s TASS reported.
The comments reported by TASS came on the day security council secretary Nikolai Patrushev visited Kazakhstan to meet counterparts from across the former Soviet Central Asian region.
“The United States and their allies are trying to support nationalist sentiment, spreading lies, manipulating public opinion, including through the internet and social networks,” TASS quoted Patrushev’s deputy, Alexander Shevtsov, as saying in Almaty.
Oil-rich Kazakhstan, Russia’s long-time ally and close economic partner, has refused to support Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine and has said it would comply with Western sanctions against Russia.
(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Tom Hogue)
