Russia is starting large-scale military exercises near its border with Kazakhstan. More than four thousand troops and 400 pieces of equipment will participate in the manoeuvres, including strategic missile forces and combat aviation, RIA Novosti reports, citing representative of the Strategic Missiles Forces command, Major Dmitry Andreyev.

The manoeuvres are taking place near Russian border with Kazakhstan and in Astrakhan region.

It's worth mentioning that lately Russia has been carrying quite a large number of military exercises in different parts of the country. Most notable were manoeuvres near its border with Ukraine, which cause a certain amount of alarm in Kyiv and the Western capitals. They feared that these exercises might somehow affect the difficult situation in Ukraine itself, undermining its security and territorial integrity. According to some accounts, many Russian troops sent to manoeuvres allegedly appeared on the Ukrainian territory fighting for the separatists in Luhansk and Donetsk.

These new exercises near Kazakhstan border cause certain amount of worrying since the relations between the two countries entered a cooling phase. During his meeting with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in Minsk on 26 August Nazarbayev said that Kazakhstan might also benefit from such an agreement. Kazakhstan's President also promised fruitful cooperation with Ukraine. Following that pro-Kremlin mouthpiece politician Vladimir Zhirinovsky stated that soon Russia would raise territorial claims to Kazakhstan, stressing that 'russophobic attitude was cultivated' in Kazakhstan, and 'anti-Russian attitudes were in every school textbook.' After such a statement, Nazarbayev declared said that Kazakhstan had a right to reject the Eurasian Economic Union, if its interest were concerned.