On Thursday, the Russian-led military contingent began its withdrawal from Kazakhstan, where it had been sent after the violent disturbances in this former Soviet republic in Central Asia.
A solemn departure ceremony bringing together soldiers from the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CTO) – a Moscow-led military alliance – took place in the morning in Almaty, Kazakhstan’s main city, according to AFP journalists.
“The peacekeeping operation is over (…), the tasks have been accomplished,” said Russian General Andrei Serdiukov, commander of the contingent made up of 2,030 Russian, Belarusian, Armenian, Tajik and Kyrgyz soldiers.
These men were sent to the former Soviet republic on January 6 and are expected to complete their departure by January 22, according to the CSTO and Kazakh authorities.
According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the military has begun “to prepare military and technical equipment to be loaded onto Russian Air Force aircraft to return to their permanent base.”
They also began handing over infrastructure and buildings that they had been guarding for several days to Kazakhstan’s security forces.
In addition, the airport in Almaty, closed since last week after being looted, received its first civil flight this Thursday.
Kazakhstan was rocked last week by violence not seen since its independence in 1991. It left dozens dead and hundreds injured, motivated the mobilization of the military contingent and led to the arrest of at least 12,000 people.
– Power struggle –
The most serious episodes of violence took place in Almaty – with exchanges of fire, looting of shops and the burning of the town hall and the presidential residence.
Until then, Kazakhstan prided itself on its stability.
The riots were qualified as a “terrorist” foreign aggression by President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, who, however, did not provide concrete evidence to that effect. It was on the basis of this statement that he asked for the support of foreign soldiers.
Violence, however, erupted after demonstrations on January 2 against rising fuel prices, against the backdrop of years of declining living standards and endemic corruption among the country’s elites.
The version of events presented by the Kazakh authorities was supported by Russian President Vladimir Putin and other countries in the region.
Kazakh authorities have yet to publish an accurate account of these events, as protesters and police clashed with automatic weapons, suggesting a very high number of casualties.
In the context of these clashes, the president of Kazakhstan has also launched an offensive against his powerful predecessor Nursultan Nazarbayev, as well as his allies and family members who control entire sectors of the economy and remain very influential in the mysteries of the regime.
Thus, he accused his political godfather of having favored the emergence of a “rich caste” dominating this state rich in hydrocarbons, an unprecedented criticism of those who hold the honorary title of “Head of the Nation”.
The Kazakh president, who has spent his entire career in the shadow of his mentor, also announced that the wealthy elite will have to provide a fund meant to “pay a tribute” to the Kazakh population.
One of Nazarbayev’s allies, Karim Massimov, was also arrested on Saturday for high treason after being sacked as head of the secret service.
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