The former head of Kazakhstan’s intelligence agency was detained on suspicion of high treason, the agency said on Saturday, after being removed from office amid recent protests in the former Soviet republic.
After nearly a week of crisis in this central Asian country, the Kremlin reported on Saturday that Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Kazakh counterpart Kassym Jomart Tokayev had a “long” telephone conversation following these unprecedented unrest.
The arrest of Karim Masimov, who is a former prime minister and long ally of the country’s former president and founder Nursultan Nazarbáyev, is the first consequence of the silence amid the crisis in this country, the most serious in several years.
A spokesman for Nazarbayev denied rumors that the former president had fled Kazakhstan and urged “not to spread false and speculative information”.
Nazarbáyev called on “all citizens to unite around the president of Kazakhstan to allow him to overcome this crisis and guarantee the integrity of the country,” his spokesman Aidos Ukibay said on Twitter.
The biggest country in Central Asia was the scene of protests that began last Sunday in the provinces, after a rise in gas prices, and spread to other cities, mainly to the economic capital Almaty, where the demonstrations turned into violent riots.
A contingent of troops from Russia and other allied countries arrived on Thursday in the former Soviet republic to support the government and protect official buildings, along with local security forces.
Presidents Putin and Tokayev “exchanged views on measures to restore order in Kazakhstan,” the Kremlin said on Saturday of the presidents’ conversation, adding that both had decided to maintain “permanent” contact.
– High treason –
Shortly before, the Committee on National Security (KNB) announced in a statement that its previous leader, Karim Masimov, was detained on Thursday after the start of an investigation into crimes of high treason.
“On January 6 of this year, the Committee on National Security launched a harmful investigation into high treason,” the statement said.
“On the same day, on suspicion of committing this crime, the former director of the KNB, KK Masimov, was arrested and placed in a temporary detention center, along with others,” he added.
Masimov was fired from his post as head of the KNB this week after protesters stormed government buildings in Almaty.
The country’s authorities said on Friday that the situation was under control, but President Tokayev said the same day that he authorized police to fire without warning and ruled out negotiating with the protesters.
This Saturday, an AFP correspondent in Almaty reported that the situation was of a tense calm, with warning shots from the security forces against anyone approaching the central square of the city.
– 4,000 detainees –
President Tokayev promised to “eliminate” the “bandits” who provoked these riots, which he said numbered “20,000” and had “a clear plan”.
According to the interior ministry, 26 “armed criminals” were killed. In turn, security forces reported 18 dead and 748 wounded among their troops.
More than 4,000 people were detained, including foreigners, according to the ministry.
This Saturday, President Tokayev’s office said that Monday will be declared a national day of mourning.
There were no signs of further clashes this Saturday morning, but gunshots were heard from time to time, according to witnesses.
Retired Leonid Kiselyev, 68, said his car was shot while driving at around 8:30 am near a municipal building.
“Yesterday was a quiet day, but this happened,” lamented Kiselyev, still scared, as he waited for fuel to arrive at a gas station.
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