Russian-led CSTO Forces Deployed to Kazakhstan to Begin Withdrawal in Two Days

The President of Kazakhstan, Kasim-Yomart Tokáyev, announced that the troops of the post-Soviet military alliance Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) deployed in the country in the wake of the violent protests that shook the Central Asian republic last week will begin to withdraw. within two days.

“The main mission of the CSTO peacekeeping forces has been successfully concluded. In two days a 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 Akorda 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 “terrorist threat” in the country, as he described the protests that began the day. two.

The members of the organization, in what is their first intervention in twenty years, sent a total of 2,030 soldiers to Kazakhstan, the majority from Russia, which leads the alliance, Tokayev himself said on Monday at the CSTO virtual summit.

According to the president, the country could have lost control over Almaty, the main focus of the protests and the country’s largest city and financial center, if the CSTO had not been used.

“Professionals worked in preparation for the seizure of power. Since it was an armed aggression of international terrorism against our country, Kazakhstan legally appealed to its partners in the Collective Security Treaty ”.

Nursultán tries to justify the repression and the presence of the CSTO in Kazakhstan by the “terrorist threat” to the country, since he assures that the protesters are “armed and prepared criminals”, both local and foreign, and “international terrorists”, although he has not presented evidence.

Tokáyev, who on Monday said he had prevented an “attempted coup,” also said yesterday that they were insurgents from “mostly from Central Asia, Afghanistan and also the Middle East” and that once the investigation started at the state level present evidence to the international community.

The Kazakh leader today criticized the behavior of some in the security apparatus during the protests.

“Not all of them did their duty. In a series of cities, the heads of the National Security Departments, despite having a sufficient arsenal of weapons, without presenting combat, abandoned their headquarters, leaving weapons and secret documentation there, ”he said.

At the same time, he highlighted the value of members of the special police forces in the fight against “terrorist aggression” and noted that the military “acted with dignity.”

The protests, which erupted over the doubling of the price of liquefied gas, used in Kazakhstan as a cheap alternative to gasoline, but escalated into riots in an expression of discontent with the elites and corruption, were suppressed by Kazakh forces in a “anti-terrorist” operation.

During his long speech, Tokayev admitted that the benefits of the country rich in natural resources (oil, gas and uranium) are not sufficiently shared.

“The main beneficiaries of economic growth have been the oligarchic financial groups. The oligopolies that were created seriously limited the development of the free market and reduced the country’s competitiveness ”.

The largest demonstrations in 30 years of Kazakhstan’s independence have resulted in more than 160 deaths, including 17 members of the security forces and bodies, and almost 10,000 arrests, according to the authorities of the Central Asian republic.

So far, 412 preliminary investigations have been initiated in Kazakhstan, including for alleged terrorist act and homicide, according to the Presidency.