Prior to the weekend summit of the Kazakh and Russian heads of state, Kazakhstan announced plans to modernize its antiaircraft-defense system with help from the United States, Great Britain, and Germany, \"Kommersant-Daily\" reported on 12 January. However, Russian Defense Ministry officials asserted this would violate a 1995 CIS agreement on a common antiaircraft system. After President Nursultan Nazarbaev\'s talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin during the recent summit, the Kazakh plan for an international tender was dropped. \"Kommersant-Daily\" asserted that by announcing it was seeking international help in modernizing its antiaircraft defenses, Kazakhstan succeeded in getting Moscow to reduce significantly the price it would charge for such modernization. (RFE/RL)