Officials Fired in Jet Fighter Scandal

Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev fired Defense Minister Mukhtar Altynbayev and security chairman Nurtai Abykayev for their involvement in the sale of six MIG jet fighters. Nazarbayev also fired senior defense and security officials, as well as top executives from a company that was involved in the scandal, the president’s press service reported. Officials in Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku, found the disassembled Soviet-made MIGs on board a Russian plane that arrived from Kazakhstan on March 19. Azeri customs officials said the cargo was meant for Yugoslavia, in violation of a U.N. arms embargo.