The army of Vladimir Poutine will have remained, finally, a week in Kazakhstan. Russian troops had been dispatched to support the power in place facing unprecedented riots, in a so-called “peacekeeping” operation. It is at the request of the President of Kazakhstan Kassym Jomart Tokayev, that the soldiers leave the country Thursday, January 13, in the morning, the big cities of the country. This withdrawal should last about ten days, explains Jean Galiev, Kazakhstan’s ambassador to France: “Our president promised that the contingent would be withdrawn. Kazakhstani authorities believe that Kazakhstan is capable of handling the situation on its own.”
Moscow intervened alongside its allies in the CSTO, the organization of the Collective Security Treaty (Russia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Armenia and Tajikistan), however divided, on the terms of the operation.
For David Gahuzère, geopolitical researcher and specialist in Central Asia, Russia could not maintain its soldiers any longer: “The” OTSC violates for the first time its own constitution which prohibited it from intervening in the internal affairs of a state. There are two lines that clash, a line close to Alexander Lukashenko, the Belarusian president, who maintains interference, and another more moderate line behind the Armenian president who instead defends non-interference in internal affairs. “
Of the 2,030 soldiers deployed for a week in Kazakhstan, most of the troops were sent by Moscow. Only a few dozen were sent by the other five countries of the alliance.
On Tuesday, the United States called on Russia to withdraw “quickly” his forces sent to Kazakhstan. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu explained that the departure would take place once the situation “fully stabilized” and “on decision” Kazakh authorities.