Servicemen from the Russian contingent of the CSTO peacekeeping forcesMOSCOW, Jan 14The entry of CSTO peacekeepers into Kazakhstan was timely, the appeal of President Kassym-Zhomart Tokayev corresponded to the difficult situation in the country, said Secretary General of the organization Stanislav Zas. “The entry was very timely. The CSTO — it absolutely corresponded to the situation, the difficult situation that was developing in Kazakhstan on that day,» Zas said on the air of Kirill Vyshinsky's program «1/6» on the Russia-24 channel.It is too early to talk about the normalization of the situation in Kazakhstan, said the CSTO Secretary General 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 throughout the country and launched a counter-terrorism operation. According to the UN, during the protests in Kazakhstan, about 1,000 people were injured. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the republic, 17 Kazakh security officials were killed, more than 1.3 thousand were injured. On the morning of January 5, President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart 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 for help from the CSTO «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 Thursday, January 13, the successful completion of the CSTO mission was announced, now the peacekeepers are returning from Kazakhstan.
