Kazakhs don't see funny side of Borat

David Brent could only manage a town, Alan Partridge insulted a city but Borat Sagdiyev has gone one better and offended a whole nation.

Kazakhstan TV reporter Borat, aka comedian Sacha Baron-Cohen, says in the central Asian country's wine is made from fermented horse urine and the top four activities are disco dancing, archery, rape and table tennis.

But now Kazakhstan's government has had enough and is threatening legal action against the comedian - who shot to fame as Ali G - after his latest performance at the MTV music awards.

'We do not rule out [the possibility] Mr Baron-Cohen is serving someone's political order designed to present Kazakhstan and its people in a derogatory way,' foreign ministry spokesman Yerzhan Ashybayev said.

'We reserve the right to legal action to prevent new pranks of this kind and we view Mr Baron-Cohen's behaviour as utterly unacceptable.'

Borat arrived in Lisbon to host the TV show, which was broadcast around the world, in an Air Kazakh propeller plane being flown by a oneeyed pilot clutching a vodka bottle.

He told the audience: 'My 13-year-old son is travelling here by foot, with his two wives and his three children. If he survives the journey I have promised him that he can make penetration with Colombian prostitute Shakira.'

Kazakhstan's tourist websites describe the country as a hospitable, cultural place. Traditions include 'Audaryspak' or wrestling on horseback.

Family and honour are important in Kazakhstan but its leaders have been criticised for alleged human rights abuses.

Kazakhstan became an independent democratic republic in 1991 after it split from the USSR.