The largest city in Kazakhstan – Alma-Ata – is completely surrounded by checkpoints, where dozens of military personnel and armored personnel carriers are on duty. This was announced on January 8 by the correspondent TASS…
According to him, at the exit from the city, cars are carefully inspected and documents are checked. Shooting is heard from time to time in Alma-Ata, but not as intense as in previous days. On television, calls are repeated to move away from windows in areas where a special sweep operation is being carried out.
Some grocery stores have opened, but according to local residents, there is no bread in them, the correspondent noted. He also added that due to problems with ATMs in the city, it is almost impossible to withdraw money.
Earlier that day, the commandant of the Alma-Ata region, the head of the police department, Serik Kudebaev, said that the situation was under control. At the same time, he stressed that due to the action on the territory of the region of the critical red level of the terrorist threat, if disobeying the requirements of law enforcement agencies, decisive measures will be taken, up to the use of weapons.
At the same time, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced a gradual improvement in the situation in Kazakhstan. In particular, they drew attention to the fact that administrative buildings in Alma-Ata have been cleared of extremists, many militants have been liquidated or detained. However, later it was reported about fighting in the suburbs of Alma-Ata and shooting in Taldykorgan.
Protests in Kazakhstan began on January 2. Participants of the rallies opposed the rise in prices for liquefied gas. The actions soon escalated into riots.
The situation has become especially aggravated in Alma-Ata. The protesters broke into the administration building, set fire to the building of the prosecutor’s office and the office of the ruling party. Radical protesters armed themselves and began looting, destroying shops, pharmacies and banks in the city.
The criminals ransacked the offices of five TV channels, tried to attack a pre-trial detention center in the city of Taldykorgan and attempted to enter the territory of a military unit in the Aktobe region.
It also became known about 18 security officials killed during the protests in the republic. Two of them were beheaded. The Ministry of Health of Kazakhstan said that the participants in the riots also attacked doctors: more than 10 doctors were injured.
The President of Kazakhstan, Kassym-Zhomart Tokayev, noted that the seized government offices were terrorist groups. According to him, the bandits who caused the riots have undergone serious training abroad. The commandant’s office in Alma-Ata also stated that the violent actions of the attackers testified to the terrorist and extremist nature of the bandit formations. The presidential administration of the country noted that among the militants operating in Alma-Ata there were snipers with special rifles.
On January 5, the President of Kazakhstan announced that he had applied to the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO, which includes Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Armenia) for help in overcoming the terrorist threat. After that, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, who holds the post of CSTO chairman, announced that the organization would send collective peacekeeping forces to the republic for a limited period of time to stabilize the situation.
Later, the CSTO secretariat reported that the Russian part of the peacekeeping contingent was being transferred to Kazakhstan by military transport aircraft of the Russian Aerospace Forces. It was noted that the advanced units from its composition had already begun to fulfill the assigned tasks. Also, Belarusian peacekeepers arrived in Kazakhstan. Aircraft of the Aerospace Forces (VKS) of the Russian Federation delivered to Kazakhstan the Armenian and Kyrgyz military from the CSTO peacekeepers. Peacekeepers from Russia, together with Kazakhstani law enforcement agencies, took full control of the Alma-Ata airport.
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