The special services of Kazakhstan have detained the former chairman of the National Security Committee (KNB) of the republic, Karim Massimov, on suspicion of high treason. This was announced on January 8 by the press service of the state body.
“On January 6 of this year, the National Security Committee launched a pre-trial investigation into the fact of high treason, under Article 175 of Part 1 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan. On the same day, on suspicion of committing this crime, the former chairman of the KNB Karim Massimov and other persons were detained and placed in a temporary detention center, ”the message says.
On the eve of the ex-adviser to the first president of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, Yermukhamet Yertysbayev, said that one of the reasons for the crisis in the country was the betrayal of some top officials and law enforcement officers.
He described the riots as an attempt at a coup d’etat and an armed rebellion, and their scale suggests that “without the traitors of the highest echelon of power, especially law enforcement agencies, it was impossible to carry out.”
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 the largest city of the country – 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.
In addition, 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 the security forces killed during the protests in the republic. Their number increased to 18, two of them were beheaded. In addition, the republic’s National Guard reported the death of two servicemen. 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. He added that the bandits who caused the riots had received extensive training abroad.
The commandant’s office in Alma-Ata also said that the violent actions of the attackers testified to the terrorist and extremist nature of the bandit formations.
A resident of Nur-Sultan called the events in Alma-Ata looting and massacre, not a peaceful protest.
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 dismissed the government, headed the Security Council and at its meeting announced that he had applied to the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO, which includes Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Armenia, Belarus and Russia) for help in overcoming the terrorist threat … After that, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, who holds the post of CSTO chairman, said that the organization would send collective peacekeeping forces to the republic for a limited period of time in order to stabilize and normalize the situation in that country.
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. Il-76 and An-124 planes with Russian peacekeepers and equipment arrived in the republic. The military began to carry out the assigned tasks. In addition, Belarusian peacekeepers arrived in Kazakhstan. Also, peacekeepers from Kyrgyzstan have already been delivered to Kazakhstan. In addition, the Russian side helps in the transfer of Armenian soldiers from the CSTO peacekeepers to Kazakhstan.
On January 7, Russian peacekeepers, together with Kazakhstani law enforcement agencies, took full control of the Alma-Ata airport, which had previously been attacked. The CSTO peacekeepers help Kazakhstani law enforcement officers ensure the safety of life support facilities and social infrastructure.
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