Almaty — Russia-led military blocks began withdrawing troops from Kazakhstan on Thursday after a week of unfolding during the worst bouts of anxiety in the post-Soviet history of Central Asian countries.
Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Kaev sought help from the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) last week after initially peaceful protests intensified in many large cities triggered by soaring car fuel prices. rice field.
“Thanks to your arrival, the Kazakh army and security forces were able to carry out their immediate mission to find and detain bandits.” Flag. The Russian group was the most common.
Kazakh officials announced on Wednesday the completion of what is called an “anti-terrorist operation” in most of the country, but have not yet declared that the largest city, Almaty, is completely safe.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressed concern about Russia’s development and urged an angry reaction from the Kremlin. Despite this week’s international talks, US-Russia relations are at stake over the rallying of Russian troops near Russia’s neighbor Ukraine.
It was unclear how many of the approximately 2,500 troops dispatched by the CSTO left the country immediately. The alliance said it would take 10 days for peacekeepers to withdraw completely.
The CSTO army was initially deployed in a government building in the capital Nur-Sultan, away from the center of anxiety, and then protected some important infrastructure objects in Almaty, such as a large power plant.
Authorities detained about 10,000 people in a riot that some protesters attacked security forces, occupied and incinerated government buildings, and plundered stores.
They said some of the attackers were foreigners trained by radical Islamic terrorists. Tokaev does not specify who the foreigner is, but states that this justifies the involvement of the CSTO. He dismissed some of his senior security officials who were later charged with treason.
Some Kazakhs reiterated Blinken’s comment that after Kazakhstan accepted Russian troops, it might have a hard time getting rid of them. Tokaev said foreign troops would not stay in the country after January 23.
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