Russia-led alliance send troops to protest-hit Kazakhstan amid violence

Asia-Pacific, News January 7, 2022 , by IRIA No Comments

Dozens were killed, 2,000 people arrested by Kazakhstan security forces

Russia-led alliance has sent peacekeeping troops to Kazakhstan where mass protests and violence are continuing amid a state of emergency and Internet blackout in the Central Asian country.

Dozens of people have been reported killed in clashes between protesters and Kazakhstan’s security forces, including 12 law enforcement officers. More than 2,000 people were detained as President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev attempted to regain control of Almaty, the country’s largest city.

Tokayev blamed “terrorists” trained abroad for the violence and requested the assistance of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a regional security pact that includes Russia, Belarus, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and Armenia. Nikol Pashinyan, the prime minister of Armenia and the chairman of CSTO’s Security Council, said that the CSTO forces would intervene “for a limited period of time.” To help in “stabilizing” the country and protecting “important state and military facilities.”

Russia-led alliance troops arrived in Kazakhstan on Thursday to restore order after protests in the Central Asian country turned violent. Image Credit: Russian Defense Ministry Press Service — ^{Russia-led alliance troops arrived in Kazakhstan on Thursday to restore order after protests in the Central Asian country turned violent. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service)}

Protests over gas price increases that began in Western Kazakhstan have spread across the country and turned into the worst violence in Kazakhstan’s 30 years of independence. On Wednesday, demonstrators stormed and set alight the mayor’s office and other government buildings in Almaty and seized the city’s airport overnight.

What ignited the protests?

The current protests began on New Year’s Day in Western Kazakhstan after the government removed a price cap on liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) causing prices to immediately double. While the protests were flared by fuel prices, experts say that the discontent runs much deeper. Low salaries, high prices, poor living conditions, rampant corruption have been described as the real cause of the protests.

The unprecedented protests have led to the resignation of the country’s longest-serving ruler, the 81-year old Nursultan Nazarbayev while Prime Minister Askar Mamin and the Kazakh government resigned as Tokayev took control.

United Nations urges restraint in Kazakhstan

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, urged everyone, including security forces, protesters and others, to refrain from violence and to seek a peaceful resolution. “International law is clear: people have the right to peaceful protest and freedom of expression. At the same time, protesters, no matter how angry or aggrieved they may be, should not resort to violence against others,” Ms Bachelet said. Bachelet called for the release of all those arrested and detained for exercising their rights to peaceful protest and said that all allegations of human rights violations should be “promptly, independently and thoroughly investigated.”

U.S. urges ‘peaceful’ resolution to Kazakhstan unrest

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with his Kazakh counterpart and “reiterated the United States’ full support for Kazakhstan’s constitutional institutions and media freedom and advocated for a peaceful, rights-respecting resolution to the crisis.”

Earlier, the State Department spokesman, Ned Price, said in a statement, “We condemn the acts of violence and destruction of property and call for restraint by both the authorities and protesters.” He also urged “all Kazakhstanis to respect and defend constitutional institutions, human rights, and media freedom, including through the restoration of internet service. We urge all parties to find a peaceful resolution of the state of emergency.”