"Such efforts, which would have the effect of enhancing Soviet energy leverage over the Baltics, make a mockery of Western claims to support those whose independence movements are being crushed by precisely this device, " Gaffney added.
The 71-year-old President Nazarbayev - officially known as Leader of the Nation - has led the country since its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, and claims to have won 95.5% of the vote in the most recent presidential election.
Beyond Nicosia, the Eastern Mediterranean gas issue has been the subject of increasingly tense interactions about conflicting maritime claims and access to what, in a politically less charged world, could offer energy independenceof some sort to much of the region for years to come.
He claims that the bill now being drafted in the president's office itself violates the constitutional independenceof the executive, legislative and judicial branches.