Word: kazakhs
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Dates: during 2010-2019
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...Then, on Jan. 19, three weeks into the dispute, Kazakhstan stepped in with a game-changing offer. It said that if Russia refuses to provide oil to the Belarusian refineries, it would be happy to take Moscow's place. The Kazakhs also said they would be willing to buy a stake in Belarus' Naftan refinery, which Russia's largest oil companies have coveted. "The demands of Belarusian refineries will be filled by Kazakh oil," said Anatoly Smirnov, Kazakhstan's ambassador to Belarus, adding that the two nations' Presidents have already discussed the idea and "no one has refused...
...most parts of the world, this would seem like a completely normal arrangement for two countries to make. But this is Russia's backyard. And Moscow, which has yet to react to the Kazakh offer, may not take kindly to two of its former republics' striking an energy deal behind its back. The offer demonstrates, however, that many former Soviet states might not care anymore if they anger their former benefactor. A sense of defiance has grown in the region since the Russia-Georgia war, which proved that Moscow would not stop at economic bullying in its efforts to maintain...
...Kazakhstan's offer to Belarus is most likely a bluff. It would be costly and difficult for Kazakhstan to ship oil to Belarus, and Belarus could not afford to pay fair-market prices anyway, says Denis Borisov, an analyst at Bank Moskvy, one of Russia's largest banks. Kazakh companies could, however, undercut Russian bids for the Naftan refinery, he says, which would be a major blow to Russia's energy strategy in Eastern Europe. (See pictures of the Russia-vs.-Georgia...