29 December 2015 | 20:40

Nazarbayev advises Kazakh army to 'keep powder dry'

President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev meets military commanders. Photo courtesy of Akorda.kz

President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev has met with leaders of the Kazakh Defence Ministry to sum up the year, Tengrinews reports citing Akorda presidential website.

He praised the Kazakh army for its role in preventing and neutralizing military and terrorist threats. And reminded the officers about the responsibility they had to every citizen of Kazakhstan.

President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev has met with leaders of the Kazakh Defence Ministry to sum up the year, Tengrinews reports citing Akorda presidential website.

He praised the Kazakh army for its role in preventing and neutralizing military and terrorist threats. And reminded the officers about the responsibility they had to every citizen of Kazakhstan.

“Every Kazakhstani relies on the armed forces when thinking about his or her safety. Each and every one of you should always remember that, be always vigilant and ‘keep your power dry’,” the President said.

He called the military commanders to keep a close eye on new trends and track new specifics emerging in military conflicts to constantly improve their level of professional, military and psychological readiness.

“Wars are no longer the same they used to be. Now they are hybrids of economic, political, informational, internal and other wars, and the army has to adjust to the new specifics,” Nursultan Nazarbayev said.

According to Khabar news agency, Kazakhstan spent over 1 trillion tenge (over $3 million (1USD=330 tenge)) on defence industry in 2013-2015. The army increased its spending to purchase contemporary armament, equipment for prevention and liquidation of emergency situations and improve its physical infrastructure.

Zhandarbek Zhanzakov, Chief Commander of Kazakhstan’s Navy, said that over the past three years the navy had procured several ships from Zenit shipyard to step up its defence potential, establish regular military duty and improve military training.

By Tatyana Kuzmina