Stanislav ZasMINSK, Jan 15During the riots in Kazakhstan, well-organized groups operated that pursued terrorist goals, apparently a lot of “weapons prepared in advance” were involved, said Stanislav Zas, CSTO Secretary General. and organized armed groups that were already pursuing other goals, one might say, terrorist goals,» Zas said in an interview with the Belarus 1 TV channel shown on Saturday. According to him, these groups were well trained and clearly trained in such actions. The CSTO Secretary General drew attention to the fact that during the unrest in Kazakhstan, a large number of weapons were used, and not only those that were taken out of weapons stores or seized from the security forces, but also, «apparently, there were also weapons prepared in advance.» According to Zas, such cruelty, which was observed during the riots in Kazakhstan, was unexpected not only for the CSTO countries, but also for the people of Kazakhstan. «There hasn't been anything like this for 30 years, so there was a surprise effect, of course,» the CSTO Secretary General said.The CSTO peacekeepers did not have conflicts with the residents of Kazakhstan, the Secretary General said, «These are not my estimates, but of law enforcement officers of Kazakhstan, that there were groups operating there, especially when storming the buildings of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and others, well organized and clearly trained. When there are units, fives, so-called, there are leaders who have insignia … and the actions themselves were quite professional. That is, we can say that — and this was voiced in the assessments, including by the President of Kazakhstan — that terrorist groups were operating, «Zas emphasized. According to him, the law enforcement agencies and special services of Kazakhstan still have a lot of work ahead. «But this is another task. In principle, there are no more shootings and such unprecedented events as there were in recent days — this is no longer the case,» the CSTO Secretary General noted. Zas also noted that there are foreigners among those detained during the riots. «Among those arrested there are, including foreigners from different countries. But, of course, it is impossible to say that foreigners prevail there,» he said. Western countries opposed the doubling of 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 throughout the country until January 19 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 January 7, Tokayev said that the terrorists, including those who had 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. On Thursday, January 13, the successful completion of the CSTO mission was announced, now the peacekeepers are returning from Kazakhstan.
All peacekeepers must return from Kazakhstan by January 19, the CSTO said
