(Almaty) Moscow and its allies of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) announced on Thursday the dispatch of a “collective peacekeeping force” to Kazakhstan, as requested by the former Soviet republic shaken by riots.
CSTO President Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pachinian told Facebook that the alliance had decided to send “a collective peacekeeping force” for “a limited period of time in order to stabilize and normalize the situation in this country ”, which was provoked by“ external interference ”.
PHOTO VLADIMIR TRETYAKOV, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Police officers arrest a protester during a demonstration in Almaty, Kazakhstan on Wednesday, January 5, 2022. Protesters denouncing the doubling of liquefied gas prices clashed with police in Kazakhstan’s largest city. Protests took place in a dozen other cities across the country on Tuesday.
This organization brings together several former Soviet republics around Russia, including Belarus and Uzbekistan.
The President of Kazakhstan declared a state of emergency on Wednesday evening and requested the help of the CSTO in the face of the “terrorist threat” of the riots, which saw crowds storming government buildings in this country. Central Asia rich in natural resources.
PHOTO PAVEL MIKHEYEV, REUTERS
Members of the Kazakhstani security forces at a barricade in Almaty, the capital, January 5, 2022.
According to the Kazakh Interior Ministry quoted by local media, at least eight members of the security forces were killed and 317 injured.
Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, faced with demonstrations that started Sunday in the West after a rise in the price of gas, then spread and turned into a riot on the night of Tuesday to Wednesday in Almaty, the The country’s economic capital and largest city, claims that “terrorist gangs” who “received extensive training abroad” are leading the protests.
“Groups of criminal elements beat our soldiers, humiliate them, drag them naked in the streets, attack women, loot stores,” he denounced in a televised address Wednesday.
PHOTO YEVGENY BIYATOV, ARCHIVES ASSOCIATED PRESS
Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, President of Kazakhstan
After a night of unrest that saw the arrest of more than 200 people, thousands of protesters stormed the Almaty administration headquarters on Wednesday afternoon, appearing to take control. Police fired stun grenades and tear gas, but could not prevent them from entering, according to AFP journalists.
Burned buildings
Men in police uniform were seen putting down their shields and helmets to embrace the protesters. “They’re coming over to our side! », Launched a woman while hugging another demonstrator.
Local media reported that the protesters then proceeded to the presidential residence in the city, and the two buildings were on fire.
Information impossible to verify immediately reported unrest across the country, and the capture of Almaty airport by demonstrators.
In an effort to stem the crisis, President Tokayev had already sacked the government and declared a state of emergency in several regions, including Almaty and the capital, Nur-Sultan, recently renamed in honor of the former president. Nursultan Nazarbayev. A curfew is in effect from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m.
Over the internet
Protest demonstrations are rare in Kazakhstan, an authoritarian country where gatherings must be authorized by the authorities.
It was impossible on Wednesday to have a complete vision of the situation in the country, journalists and witnesses could no longer be reached by internet or by phone, who were cut off.
The web-monitoring group NetBlocks reported on Twitter a “nationwide internet shutdown, […] likely to severely limit coverage of escalating anti-government protests ”.
AFP correspondents were unreachable on Wednesday evening. Previously, they reported that internet connections were intermittent and that Telegram, Signal and WhatsApp messaging apps were all down.
“Government resignation! “And” The old man out! Chanted the demonstrators in reference to the former president.
Mr. Nazarbayev, 81, ruled the country from 1989 to 2019, nevertheless keeping a tailor-made status of “Leader of the nation” and installing a successor to his boot.
This ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin had also remained president of the powerful Security Council, but Tokayev announced on Wednesday that he would now exercise this function himself.
Kazakhstan, the largest of the five former Soviet republics in Central Asia, has a large minority considered to be ethnically Russian. It is of crucial economic and geopolitical importance for Russia.
Moscow called on Wednesday to resolve the crisis through dialogue “and not through street riots and the violation of laws”.
The United States and the European Union have called for “restraint” from all parties. White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki also criticized “Russia’s crazy allegations” of alleged United States responsibility for the riots in Kazakhstan, which fall “under the Russian disinformation strategy”.
Gas crisis
The anger began on Sunday after a rise in the prices of liquefied natural gas (LNG), in the city of Janaozen, in the west of the country, before spreading to the large regional city of Aktau, on the edges from the Caspian Sea, then to Almaty.
The government had initially tried to calm the protesters, without success, by conceding a reduction in the price of LNG.
The rise in gas prices is perceived by the population as unfair in view of Kazakhstan’s vast oil and gas resources.
Central Asia’s largest economy, accustomed in the past to double-digit growth rates, is suffering from falling oil prices and the economic crisis in Russia, which has led to the devaluation of the Kazakh tenge and a steep inflation.