The Kremlin on Thursday, January 6, published a statement by the Chairman of the CSTO Collective Security Council – Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan on the sending of the organization’s peacekeepers to Kazakhstan.
“In connection with the appeal of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Tokayev and in view of the threat to national security and the sovereignty of the Republic of Kazakhstan caused, inter alia, by outside interference, the CSTO Collective Security Council <...> decided to send the Collective Peacekeeping Forces of the CSTO to the Republic of Kazakhstan”, – Pashinyan said in a statement published on website President of the Russian Federation.
It also follows from the message that the forces will be sent to the republic for a limited time period in order to stabilize and normalize the situation.
The fact that the CSTO Collective Security Council made such a decision was reported earlier on Thursday. It noted that the advice when sending forces relies on Article 4 of the Collective Security Treaty.
Earlier on Wednesday, Tokayev appealed to the CSTO member states for help in overcoming the “terrorist threat” due to the protests in the country, which escalated into riots and looting.
Protests in Kazakhstan began on January 2. Dissatisfied with the rise in the cost of liquefied gas, residents of the cities of Zhanaozen and Aktau in the Mangistau region – the oil-producing region of the republic – went to rallies. Fuel has risen in price from 60 tenge (10 rubles) per liter to 120 (20 rubles) per liter.
The situation was especially aggravated in Alma-Ata: on January 5, protesters broke into the administration building, the city hall caught fire. The protesters also set fire to the building of the prosecutor’s office and the office of the ruling party. In addition, the Almaty residence of the President of Kazakhstan was seized.
During the riots, according to the authorities, about 500 people were beaten in Almaty, including 130 women and old people. In addition, 120 vehicles were burned, including 33 ambulances and fire trucks.
The Collective Security Treaty Organization dates back to the conclusion of the Collective Security Treaty, which was signed in Tashkent (Uzbekistan) on May 15, 1992 by the heads of Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Later it was joined by Azerbaijan, Belarus and Georgia (1993). The treaty entered into force upon completion of the national ratification procedures on April 20, 1994.
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