ASTANA (AP) -- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Sunday rejected any suggestion that U.S. efforts to build closer ties to this former Soviet republic are meant to undermine Russian influence in Central Asia.

""This is not a zero-sum game,"" she told reporters flying with her to the Kazakh capital. U.S. gains need not mean Russian losses, she said.
""First of all, Kazakhstan is an independent country. It can have friendships with whomever it wishes,"" she said. ""That's perfectly acceptable in the 21st century, so we don't see and don't accept any notion of a special sphere of influence"" for Russia in this region.
Rice is leading U.S. efforts to court energy-rich Kazakhstan.
The top U.S. diplomat, who was in India on Saturday, planned to stress Kazakhstan's potential as an energy supplier while democracy and human rights seemed likely to take a back seat.
Since Russian forces pushed close to Georgia's capital before pulling back, the Bush administration has tried to signal its commitment to countries in the Caucasus and Central Asia. Last month, Vice President Dick Cheney traveled to Georgia, Ukraine and Azerbaijan, another important energy exporter in the region.
The United States also has sought to develop military ties with Kazakhstan as a regional power close to U.S. operations in Afghanistan. Kazakhstan's membership in a Russian-led Eurasian security bloc precludes the country from joining NATO. But it retains close contact with and regularly conducts joint military exercises with the Western alliance.