Russia has sent four Amur tigers to Kazakhstan in an effort to help restore the region's tiger population. The gift comes ahead of his official visit to the country.
According to the Kremlin, the animals, including two cubs, were captured in the Khabarovsk region in Russia's Far East and transported by plane to Kazakhstan, where they are expected to be released into the wild as part of an ecological program to restore the species.
This project is related to Kazakhstan's efforts to re-establish a sustainable tiger population in its natural habitats, given that the Amur tiger is considered a close relative of the extinct Caspian tiger.
Kazakhstan has previously imported animals from other countries as part of its ecosystem and biodiversity restoration program.
Meanwhile, President Vladimir Putin has stressed that such collaborations with rare animals are not new in Russian international policy, recalling the sending of horses to North Korea in 2022 as an example of "animal diplomacy."
During his visit to Kazakhstan, the signing of an agreement to build a nuclear power plant and discussions on increasing the transit of Russian oil to China through Kazakh territory are also expected.
