State of emergency as fuel protests spread
Kazakh President KassymJomart Tokayev accepted the government’s resignation yesterday after increases in fuel prices led to clashes between protesters and police in central Asia’s largest energy producer.
Mr Tokayev declared a state of emergency in the country’s largest city, Almaty, and the oil-rich Mangystau region. The declaration allows him to impose a curfew, ban protests, and restrict internet access after a rare show of dissent in the tightly controlled nation.
The protests began over the weekend and quickly swelled to the biggest Mr Tokayev has faced since he took over in 2019 as the successor to the country’s first president, Nursultan Nazarbayev.
They were ignited by rapid increases in prices of liquefied petroleum gas, a popular fuel in Kazakhstan, before growing into a broader show of opposition in the authoritarian country, which has seen inflation soar and its wealth gap widen during the Covid19 pandemic.
“All legal requests and demands from your side will be carefully considered, and appropriate decisions will be made,” Mr Tokayev said in an address to the nation late on Tuesday. “I again appeal to you to show prudence and not succumb to provocations from within and from without.”
The instability on Russia’s southern border will be a test for President Vladimir Putin, who is currently involved in high-stakes negotiations with the US and European Union over Ukraine.
Mr Putin has been building up Russia’s troop presence near Ukraine’s border in what the West has said may be preparation for an invasion. He has denied any intent to invade, and presented a list of demands to the US and Nato that includes the cessation of Nato’s military expansion eastward.
Russia is facing “strategic instability on both flanks and it can’t afford to get distracted,” Alexander Baunov, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Moscow Center, wrote on Facebook. “Just as Russia was encroaching on Ukraine, suddenly there are protests across Kazakhstan, which might need saving.”
Moscow maintains close relations with Kazakhstan, which is a member of a Russian-led customs union.
Kazakh police detained more than 200 people as unrest broke out in “several regions,” including Almaty, the Interior Ministry said by email. The demonstrators used stones, gas and petrol bombs in the clashes, which injured 95 police and damaged 37 police vehicles, it said.
Mr Tokayev named First Deputy Prime Minster Alikhan Smailov acting prime minister, according to a statement posted on the president’s official website, while other ministers will continue to carry out their previous duties until a new government is formed.
Restraining inflation “will become the primary issue” for the new government, Mr Tokayev said.