Dmitry Peskov has dismissed a label given by several Western media outlets, saying that Astana pursues a flexible foreign policy Attempts by the Western media to portray Kazakhstan as Russia’s “backyard” are an element of information warfare and have nothing to do with reality, Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov has said.

Kiev’s backers worry that the targeting of Russian political figures could play into Moscow’s hands, Mark Galeotti has suggested Ukrainian terrorist attacks on prominent Russian public figures are widening the rift between Western and Kiev’s intelligence services, Mark Galeotti, a British historian and expert on modern Russia, has said.

Multinational companies have sold assets worth over $21 billion, the outlet has said Russian businesses are rapidly filling the void left by international companies, and are benefiting by snapping up the assets of departing Western firms at discounted prices, Bloomberg reported earlier this week.