Kazakhstan is one of Russia's closest allies. Before the fall of the Soviet Union, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev was a proponent of creating a new union with Russia. Even now, the president continues to acknowledge the deep cultural, security and economic ties between the two countries. And unlike other former Soviet states, Kazakhstan is firmly in Russia's camp , joining the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) military bloc, the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) and the Commonwealth of Independent States free trade bloc. But Kazakhstan also knows the vulnerabilities of being too close to Russia. Economically, its interconnected trade with and through Russia has suffered because of tensions with the West, forcing Kazakhstan to look elsewhere for relief. Militarily, excessive dependence on first Soviet and now Russian equipment has convinced Kazakhstan to invest in its own arms development.