ALMATY. May 7 (Interfax-Kazakhstan) - Kazakhstan and Russia on Wednesday exchanged ratification instruments on treaties covering Russian rental of Kazakh military testing grounds.
"An exchange of instruments took place on May 7," the Kazakh Foreign Ministry reported, "on the ratification of Russian-Kazakh intergovernmental treaties on the lease of testing grounds on the territory of the Republic of Kazakhstan, including the following documents:
"The Treaty between the Government of the Russian Federation and the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan on the Lease of the Sary-Shagan Testing Ground of October 18, 1996;
"The Treaty between the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Government of the Russian Federation on the Lease of the Facilities and Combat Training Fields of State Flight Training Center 929 of the Russian Federation Situated on the Territory of the Republic of Kazakhstan;
"The Treaty between the Government of the Russian Federation and the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan on the Lease of the Facilities and Combat Training Fields of State Central Testing Ground Four of the Russian Federation Situated on the Territory of the Republic of Kazakhstan of October 18, 1996;
"The Treaty between the Government of the Russian Federation and the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan on the Lease of the Emba Testing Ground of October 18, 1996."
The instruments were exchanged by Kazakh Deputy Foreign Minister Nurlan Onzhanov, who heads the ministry department for the Commonwealth of Independent States, and Russian Ambassador to Kazakhstan Yuri Merzlyakov, the Kazakh ministry said in a release.