Kazakhstan’s president says a Russia-led military alliance will start leaving after helping quell “foreign-backed” protests in the oil-rich Central Asian country.
In an address to senior government officials and members of parliament, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said on Tuesday that the withdrawal would take “no more than 10 days.”
Last week, Tokayev asked the Moscow-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) to send troops to his country to help thwart violent protests and the worst political crisis in the nation’s history.
He said the CSTO’s main mission had been successfully completed.
Mass protests began in Kazakhstan’s western province of Mangistau on January 2 after the government decided to lift price controls on liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) — a move that roughly doubled gas prices in a matter of days. Protests then engulfed other parts of the country.
Authorities said on Tuesday that life had returned to normal in the country’s main city and former capital, Almaty.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu did not mention specific plans for the 2,500 Russian-led troops to leave Kazakhstan.
Speaking at a meeting with the military top brass on Tuesday, he said that the Russian-led soldiers would “continue their mission until the situation fully stabilizes” but that it would be “up to the Kazakh leadership” to decide when that happens.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday that order was returning to Kazakhstan after the CSTO deployment, which “showed that we will not allow anyone to stir up the situation at home.”
“We understand that events in Kazakhstan are far from the first or last attempt to interfere in the domestic affairs of our states,” Putin added.
US State Department spokesman Ned Price called on the CSTO on Tuesday to “uphold their commitment to promptly depart Kazakhstan, as the government has requested.”
The deployment to Kazakhstan of Russian troops came as tensions between Moscow and the West have reached their highest point in years over the conflict in Ukraine, which has sought close ties with the United States and its NATO allies.
Source: Agencies
