Kazakhstan creates coastguard force

Kazakhstan has announced the deployment of coastguard patrols in its territorial waters in the Caspian Sea.

The Russian news agency ITAR-TASS reported that ten speedboats armed with machineguns will operate from two ports, Aktau and Atyrau.

The main task of the special rapid reaction force, code-named Bars, or Snow Leopard, will be to intercept boats from other Caspian Sea nations which Kazakhstan judge to be fishing illegally in its waters.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service