On Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin took part in an extraordinary meeting of the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) to discuss measures to stabilise the situation in Kazakhstan in light of CSTO forces completing their deployment in the country.
The virtual meeting was led by CSTO chair and Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan and was attended by Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko, Tajikistan President Emomali Rahmon, Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan Akylbek Japarov and Secretary General of the CSTO, Stanislav Zas.
The meeting began with Tokayev providing a detailed update to the CSTO Security Council. He thanked CSTO for swiftly deploying over 2000 troops and providing the Kazakh government with more than 250 equipment necessary to ensure security. This has been one of the country’s worst civil unrest that took place last week, during which over 1,200 businesses were affected and more than 100 shopping centres and banks were looted across the country. “Terrorists, including foreign fighters, were directly involved in the aggression against Kazakhstan,” Tokayev said, without taking any specific names or providing any proof. He also slammed sources claiming that his government was cracking down on protesters, calling it “misinformation.”
Putin expressed his support for Tokayev and affirmed that they will not permit the realisation of another “so-called colour revolution scenario,” referring to several revolutions that have taken place in post-Soviet countries. Like Tokayev, Putin accused unidentified “outside forces” of “interfering” in the domestic affairs of Kazakhstan adding: “they used well-organised and well-controlled militant groups… including those who had obviously been trained in terrorist camps abroad.” Putin speculated that the international terrorists in Kazakhstan might have used the online space and social media to recruit extremists and terrorists and to create sleeper cells of militants.
Putin hailed the CSTO for efficiently carrying out its first peacekeeping mission and stressed that the CSTO forces will remain in Kazakhstan only for a limited period of time.
On January 6, Kazakhstan’s government resigned after hundreds of protesters stormed the presidential residence and mayor’s office in the capital city of Almaty and the southwestern province of Mangistau over the recent hike in fuel prices. Subsequently, Tokayev declared a two-week state of emergency as the ensuing protests turned violent. Under CSTO’s peacekeeping mission, Russia provided Kazakhstan with military personnel and equipment to help stabilise the situation.
On Sunday, Kazakhstan’s Deputy Minister of Defence, Lieutenant-General Sultan Gamaletdinov, said that the situation in is “stabilising and under the control of the authorities”. He thanked CSTO forces for assisting the Kazakhstan army.