Aeroflot aircraft MOSCOW, January 9 The Russian airline Aeroflot has extended the cancellation of flights to Kazakhstan and suspended the sale of tickets, the carrier said. “Due to the restrictions in force in the Republic of Kazakhstan, Aeroflot has suspended all its own regular flights to the cities of Kazakhstan since January 5, 2022. At present the cancellation times apply to the period until January 10, 2022 (departures from the Russian Federation), until January 11, 2022 (departures from the Republic of Kazakhstan), «the message says. Also, the sale of tickets for Aeroflot's own flights to Kazakhstan and back has been temporarily suspended, scheduled for January 20, 2022 (departures from the Russian Federation), and January 21, 2022 (departures from Kazakhstan), the company notes. It also informs that passengers of canceled flights are offered a forced refund at the place of payment for transportation. Aeroflot also proposes to postpone the time of carriage from/to Kazakhstan once, if it affects the period 01/05/2022 — 01/20/2022, to flights under the SU code on the same route and in the same service class to any other dates, but within the period ticket validity, without any additional payments. Mass protests in Kazakhstan began in the first days of 2022 — residents of the cities of Zhanaozen and Aktau in the west of the country opposed a twofold increase in prices for liquefied gas. Later, the protests spread to other cities, including Alma-Ata, the old capital and the largest city of the republic: looting began there, militants attacked state institutions, took away weapons. In response, the authorities declared a state of emergency across the country until January 19 and launched a counter-terrorism operation. According to the UN, about 1,000 people were injured during the protests in Kazakhstan. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the republic, 18 security officials were killed. On the morning of January 5, Kazakh President Kassym-Zhomart Tokayev dismissed the government and headed the Security Council. At the first meeting of the Security Council under his leadership, Tokayev described the situation in Kazakhstan as undermining the integrity of the state and said that he had asked the CSTO for help «in overcoming the terrorist threat.» The CSTO Collective Security Council decided to send collective peacekeeping forces to Kazakhstan to normalize the situation in the country. On January 7, Tokayev announced that terrorists, including those who arrived from abroad, continued to resist, and promised to destroy those who did not lay down their arms. In addition, the President noted that all the demands of citizens, expressed in peaceful forms, were heard. 
Almaty airport was closed for an indefinite period
