kazakhstan and the importance for him of getting the situation in kazakhstan under control so he can focus on ukraine. well, i think it was extremely important for him, boris, to get that situation under control and get it under control as fast as possible. the last thing that vladimir putin needed as he was in the run up to those negotiations with the u.s. as far as ukraine was concerned and eastern europe was concerned was for somewhere else to have unrest happen. certainly an allied nation like kazakhstan. the post-soviet spaces are very important to russia, they have very close economic and military ties. the russians sort of see that as their security zone and quite frankly they are in a security treaty with kazakhstan and other countries here in the neighborhood as well. it was certainly very important for vladimir putin on the one hand, of course, it did bind some of the assets that he has, which, of course, makes it more difficult for him to operate freely in that area close