Russian President Vladimir Putin NOVO-OGAREVO, Jan 10 The attack on Kazakhstan was essentially an act aggression, it was necessary to react to this without delay, said Russian President Vladimir Putin. Speaking at an extraordinary session of the CSTO Collective Security Council, Putin noted that in Kazakhstan «well-organized and well-controlled groups of militants were used,» including those trained in camps for abroad. 
Putin praised the leader of the CSTO forces in Kazakhstan, General Serdyukov «And as Kassym-Zhomart Kemelevich (President of Kazakhstan Tokayev — ed.) Noted, their attack on Kazakhstan, and in fact this attack on the country, on Kazakhstan, was essentially an act of aggression, completely with I agree. It was necessary to react to all this without delay, «Putin said. Mass protests in Kazakhstan began in the early 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, 17 Kazakhstani security officials were killed, more than 1.3 thousand were injured. 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.
