The Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) decided to send “collective peacekeeping forces” to Kazakhstan.
A military alliance led by Russia will send “peacekeeping forces” to Kazakhstan to “stabilize” the country, which, since the weekend, faces unprecedented protests triggered by rising gas prices.
Long considered one of the most stable former Soviet republics in Central Asia, Kazakhstan rich in hydrocarbons, faces its biggest crisis in decades.
On Wednesday afternoon, thousands of protesters stormed the administration building in Almaty, the economic capital, to protest against the rise in gas prices, according to an AFP journalist.
Hours later, after declaring a state of emergency, the president of Kazakhstan called on Russia and its allies to help control the violent unrest that broke out on Tuesday night.
“Today I appealed to the heads of states of the CSTO (Collective Security Treaty Organization) to help Kazakhstan overcome this terrorist threat,” President Kassym Jomart Tokayev said on state television.
The Russian-led CSTO is made up of five other former Soviet republics: Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan.
Tokayev indicated that the “terrorists”, who received “training abroad”, were seizing buildings, infrastructure and “premises where small arms are found.”
The president of the CSTO, the Armenian Prime Minister, Nikol Pashinyan, assured on Facebook that the alliance decided send “collective peacekeeping forces” to the former Soviet republic “for a limited period of time to stabilize and normalize the situation in this country”, which was caused by “external injections”.
Tear gas
The movement against rising gas prices began at the weekend in the town of Janaozen, in the heart of the western Mangystau region, before spreading to Aktau, on the shores of the Caspian Sea, and Almaty.
At first, the government decided to reduce the price of a liter of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) in Mangystau from 120 to 50 tenges ($ 0.11) to “ensure the stability of the country”, although that did not appease the discontent.
On tuesday night, about 5,000 people were dispersed with tear gas and stun grenades in Almaty.
The situation became even more tense on Wednesday, when thousands of protesters stormed the city’s administrative building, despite the firing of grenades and tear gas by the police, according to an AFP journalist.
Local media reported that protesters later moved to the city’s presidential residence, and both buildings were on fire.
During the day, too there was a “nationwide internet failure“Said Netblocks, a group specialized in network surveillance.
This “can severely limit the coverage of escalating anti-government demonstrations,” the NGO added.
AFP correspondents in the country verified that the internet connection was irregular and that message applications such as Telegram, Signal and WhatsApp were not working.
Soon after, it was impossible to reach the journalists on their mobile phones.
State of emergency
At least eight police and military were killed in the riots early Thursday morning, according to local press, which cited the Ministry of the Interior.
According to the source, 317 members of the Police and soldiers of the National Guard were injured and eight were killed “at the hands of an angry mob.”
In an attempt to calm the situation, President Tokayev sacked his government and imposed a state of emergency, only in Almaty, in Mangistau province and in the administrative capital, Nur Sultan.
But the authorities extended it shortly after to the whole of the territory until January 19.
This crisis is the biggest challenge faced so far by the regime established by former President Nursultán Nazarbayev, who led the country until 2019 but maintains great influence.
Russia, crucial for the economy of Kazakhstan, He called in the afternoon to resolve the crisis the “dialogue” and not with “street riots.” In Washington, the White House asked the Kazakh authorities for “restraint”.
Television reported this Wednesday the arrest of a director of a gas treatment plant and another official in the Mangystau region, accused of having “increased the price of gas without reason”. (I)
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