Russian peacemakers help Kazakhstan to hold in the difficult situation. The peacekeeping contingent will be in Kazakhstan for a limited period, after performing its functions, it will be withdrawn from the republic, as stated by Russian President, Vladimir Putin, speaking at an extraordinary session of the CSTO Collective Security Council.
“A contingent of the collective peacekeeping forces of the CSTO has been sent to Kazakhstan and, I want to emphasize this, for a limited time period, such as the President of Kazakhstan, the head of state, the head of Kazakhstan deems possible for the use,” Putin said.
On January 2, mass protests broke out in Kazakhstan against the doubling of gas prices. The protests quickly expanded, as the protesters got political demands. On January 4, riots occurred in Alma-Ata. The country’s President Tokayev declared a state of emergency in the regions, and on the morning of January 5 accepted the resignation of the government.
On the afternoon of January 5, Tokayev announced that he had replaced Nazarbayev at the head of the country’s Security Council. The CSTO peacekeeping forces have been introduced into the country. On January 9, the Kazakh authorities announced the stabilization of the situation.
The Russian leader called the CSTO peacekeeping operation in Kazakhstan extremely timely and legitimate. In the case of Kazakhstan, the CSTO has shown in practice its potential, the ability to act quickly, decisively and effectively, Putin said.
According to the President, Russia understands that the threat to Kazakhstan was caused not by spontaneous protests, but by external and internal destructive forces.
“We understand that the threat to Kazakhstan’s statehood is not caused by spontaneous protest actions over fuel prices, but by the fact that destructive internal and external forces took advantage of the situation,” the Russian leader said.
Putin declared his full agreement with the assessment of the President of Kazakhstan Tokayev that the republic was subjected to aggression during the riots.
“Where did these gangs of armed men who have been trained in foreign centres and clearly have experience of fighting in the hot spots of the planet come from?” Putin asked adding that in Kazakhstan, well-known technologies of power information support of riots were used, the same which were used on the Ukrainian Maidan.
According to the Russian leader, the situation in Kazakhstan is gradually normalizing. He is confident that in the near future, through joint efforts, the situation throughout Kazakhstan will be stabilized.
In addition, according to Putin, the CSTO countries have shown that they will not allow the situation to be rocked at home and implement scenarios of “colour revolutions”. Putin proposed to instruct the secretaries of the Security Councils of the CSTO countries to submit proposals on joint counteraction to attempts of external interference. The CSTO countries should be ready to fight back against any provocations so that tragedies, like in Kazakhstan, will not catch anyone by surprise in the future.
He noted that the commander of the CSTO peacekeeping contingent in Kazakhstan, Colonel-General Andrey Serdyukov, “knows his job.” According to the commander, now the tasks of the peacekeepers include the protection of the important military, state and socially significant facilities in Alma-Ata and the areas adjacent to the city.
“The fulfilment of tasks by the units of the Collective Peacekeeping Forces will continue until the situation in the country is fully stabilized,” Serdyukov said.
As the commander clarified, Russian citizens who expressed a desire to travel to the Russian Federation were sent from Alma-Ata on military transport aircraft of the Russian Aerospace Forces.
Ru-Main, 10.01.2022
Source: TASS
