Kazakhstan: Russia-led alliance troops prepare to pull out
MOSCOW: Troops of a Russia-led security alliance were preparing to pull out of Kazakhstan on Thursday, the Russian Defense Ministry said. The withdrawal comes only a week after they were deployed to the ex-Soviet nation on the request of its president, who was seeking to quell extremely violent mass protests.
The demonstrations started on Jan. 2 in western Kazakhstan, with local residents outraged by a sharp rise in fuel prices, and quickly spread nationwide, descending into violence within several days.
Protesters stormed government buildings and set them ablaze, and dozens of people were killed in clashes with the country’s security forces. President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has blamed the unrest on foreign-backed “terrorists” and requested assistance from the Collective Security Treaty Organisation, a Russia-led military alliance of six ex-Soviet states.
The bloc sent over 2,000 troops to
Kazakhstan last week.
On Tuesday Tokayev declared their mission complete and said they would start pulling out on Thursday.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said Thursday that the troops in Kazakhstan were preparing equipment for transportation and handing over state institutions they guarded to local forces.
The Council of Defense Ministers of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) signed a decision on the return of peacekeepers from Kazakhstan to their permanent deployment points at an extraordinary meeting via videoconference, the CSTO secretariat said.
“Following an extraordinary meeting of the CSTO Council of Defense Ministers, the defense ministers signed a joint decision ... on organizing the return of military contingents of the CSTO member states from the territory of Kazakhstan to permanent deployment points,” the secretariat said in a statement.
Apart from the results of the peacekeeping mission in Kazakhstan, the ministers also discussed regional security issues and improving mechanisms for responding to emerging threats.
In Almaty, Kazakhstan’s largest city that has been hit the hardest by the unrest, the airport resumed operation on Thursday morning, a week after it was stormed and briefly seized by the protesters.
Russia’s Interfax news agency also reported that the security forces have cleared the square in front of the city hall, which was stormed and set on fire, opening it for pedestrians and car traffic.
Authorities in Almaty on Thursday reported detaining nearly 2,000 more people over their alleged involvement in the unrest and looting.
Meanwhile, the first international flight arrived at Almaty airport from Turkey’s Antalya on Thursday after the Kazakh airport resumed its operations that were interrupted due to unrest, said the Civil Aviation Committee.
“After the resumption of operations, the first international flight Antalya-Almaty of the Air Astana airline arrived at Almaty airport,” the committee said.
Meanwhile, the National Security Commitee has announced that the red level of terrorist threat has been canceled in 14 regions, including the capital. “As of now, the situation has been stabilized in 14 regions of the Republic of Kazakhstan,” the committee said. The red level of terrorist threat has been canceled in Nur-Sultan, Shymkent and other 12 regions of the country, it said.
The number of people detained in the Kazakh city of Shymkent in connection with the unrest has topped 3,500, regional TV channel Otyrar.kz reported, citing the head of the city’s commandant’s office, Yeraly Zhumakhanbetov.
Earlier, local authorities reported the detention of 2,700 people, and noted that 45 policemen were injured during riots in the city.