Regarding Vladimir Zhirinovskiy’s statement

ASTANA. KAZINFORM On February 23, 2014, at a public meeting in Moscow, Vladimir Zhirinovskiy, leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, member of the State Council of the Russian Federation, called for incorporation of Central Asian states, including Kazakhstan, into the Russian Federation.

Mr. Zhirinovskiy is an official, member of the Russian Federation State Duma and leader of a large political party. In our view, holders of such prominent positions must take a serious approach to their public statements with regard to our country, the Kazakh MFA's press service said.

As we reiterated a number of times, sovereignty, independence and territorial unity of Kazakhstan are inviolable and any attempt to encroach on them will receive a determined response by the state authorities of the Republic of Kazakhstan. In this regard, we have prepared a note to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation in which we ask our Russian counterparts to provide an official assessment of Mr. Zhirinovskiy's announcement with regard to its conformity with the spirit of alliance and strategic partnership between Kazakhstan and Russia.

At the moment, Kazakhstan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs is considering diplomatic measures to be applied personally to Mr. Zhirinovskiy.