Troops from the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a military alliance of six former Soviet republics, will begin withdrawing from Kazakhstan on Thursday.
The President of Kazakhstan, Kasim-Yomart Tokáyev, announced on Tuesday that the troops of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a military alliance that groups six former Soviet republics, will begin to withdraw from the country as of Thursday. In addition, it has advanced a series of measures to appease public discontent after the protests in recent days in Kazakhstan.
“The main mission of the CSTO peacekeeping forces has concluded successfully. In two days the gradual withdrawal of the units will begin. The process will not last more than ten days,” he told the Kazakh Parliament in a videoconference from the presidential palace.
Tokáyev requested help from the CSTO, led by Russia and also made up of Armenia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, as well as Kazakhstan, to suppress the protests that began on the 2nd, initially due to the doubling of the price of liquefied gas. The CSTO then sent 2,030 soldiers to Kazakhstan, the majority from Russia.
The protests have so far left 160 people dead and almost 10,000 people arrested.
Measures against social unrest
To try to appease the public’s discontent, Tokáyev has ordered the government, whose new prime minister, Aliján Smaílov, has been approved today by the Parliament, that establishes a program to “increase the income of the population in two months”.
He has also called for the creation of a public social fund to solve “real problems in the fields of health, education and social assistance.”
It has also urged large companies invited to Kazakhstan to contribute annually to the Fund for the People of Kazakhstan that will be created in the country.
Tokáyev has also instructed the government to restructure the activities of the Kazakhstan Development Bank. At the same time, he has ordered an increase in the level of responsibility of the power structures in decision-making, has declared a moratorium on the salary increase for members of the Government, regional governors and deputies, and a reform of the Public Administration.
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