Kazakh presidential spokesman Ruslan Zheldybai told journalists on May 26 that the energy-rich Central Asian country has no plans to join any union states, adding that the integration process within the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union (EES) -- of which Kazakhstan, Armenia, Belarus, and Kyrgyzstan are members -- should only be in the sphere of economics. Zheldybai's statement comes two days after Kazakh President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev said at an EES meeting in Moscow that integration within the EES was different from the controversial Russia-Belarus Union State, which was created on the formula of "two countries -- one state." To read the original story by RFE/RL's Kazakh Service, click here.
