Baku-APA. Russia and Kazakhstan will upgrade their relations to a new level of cooperation, foreign ministers of the two countries said Friday, denying reports of discords over a space center in Kazakhstan, APA reports quoting Xinhua.
Astana and Moscow have been preparing a new friendship treaty which would move the bilateral relations to a higher level "in all directions," the Interfax news agency quoted the visiting Kazakh Foreign Minister Erlan Idrisov as saying.
Idrisov and his host Sergei Lavrov also denied recent Russian media reports that the two countries have been at odds over the Baikonur space center which Russia rents from Kazakhstan.
Astana earlier formally informed Moscow that it has to decrease launches of Proton rockets from Baikonur from 17 to 12 times this year, citing environmental concerns.
Lavrov urged the media "not to make a mountain out of mole hill " and said he was not aware of how that information has leaked into mass media.
"I would not talk about any disagreements. This is a working situation, our presidents understand a necessity to sort out all similar situations," the minister told the reporters.
He added that Russia did all its best to improve the Proton's ecological safety.
In October 2012, Russian Federal Space Agency Roscosmos said it plans to upgrade Proton rocket carrier and Breeze booster for the upcoming launches.
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