‘Russia only winner of Kazakhstan unrest’ as
RUSSIA will be the only winner in the civil unrest which swept the former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan, experts warned last night.
Stability appeared to be restored following the deployment of 2,500 Russian paratroopers led by battlehardened airborne commander General Andrey Serdyukov, who spearheaded the invasion of Crimea in 2014.
Mass protests broke out a week ago following the doubling of the cost of liquefied petroleum gas, which many people in the country use to fuel their cars.
President Kassym-jomart Tokayev issued orders for troops to shoot to kill, and dozens have died.
Kazakhstan, which is the size ofwestern Europe, is Central Asia’s leading economy due to its oil and gas industry and has vast mineral resources.
Despitetokayev claiming that the unrest was the work of “foreign-trained terrorists”, discontent has been increasing since 2019 when he took over from “father of the nation” Nursultan Nazarbayev, who had been in charge since independence in 1991.
This was partly caused by resentment over the 68-year-old representing the same party as Nazarbayev and standards of living not increasing.
Last week’s unrest was also based on internal politics, with Tokayev using the situation to shore up his political position against rival networks led by former dictator Nazarbayev, 81, who still has much influence.
This included yesterday’s arrest for treason of his former intelligence chief Karim Massimov, 56. It isvladimir
Putin, however, who appears to have come out on top.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned: “One lesson of recent history is that once Russians are in your house, it’s sometimes very difficult to get them to leave.”
Russian troops were called in as part of the first intervention by the Collective Security Treaty Organisation – a Moscow-led equivalent of Nato which includes Armenia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.
But Russia refrained from helping Armenia in its war against Azerbaijan last year.
Kazakhstan, once at the heart