ALMATY, March 14 – In an indication of warming relations between the two former Soviet states of Ukraine and Kazakhstan, the Kazakhs have announced plans to produce a film based on the life of Ukrainian literary icon Taras Shevchenko.

Kazakh-based SkyProduction, Ukrainian producer center Insight Media and the Odessa film studio have begun preparations for the filming of a full-length Ukrainian-Kazakh film about Shevchenko, a Ukrainian poet and artist, titled "Tarazi. Bidding a Farewell to the Desert."