Kazakhstan denies it's in talks to send troops to Syria

ASTANA (Reuters) - Kazakhstan is not conducting negotiations on sending peacekeeping troops to Syria and would only despatch troops there under a United Nations mandate, the Kazakh foreign ministry said in a statement on Friday. On Thursday, Russia's RIA news agency had quoted the head of the defense committee in the lower house of Russia's parliament as saying that proposals were being drafted for troops from Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan to join a Russian-led peacekeeping operation in Syria. (Reporting by Raushan Nurshayeva; Writing by Christian Lowe; Editing by Alexander Winning)