NUR-SULTAN, Jan 10 CSTO forces will not be deployed in all regions of Kazakhstan and will ensure the protection of facilities on the ground, after stabilization of the situation, the entire peacekeeping contingent will be withdrawn, said the country's Secretary of State Yerlan Karin.
& # 34; The CSTO forces will not be involved in all regions. They will locally provide security for vital facilities. This is a reasonable measure. We are faced with a carefully planned and sudden attack by a whole army of radicals simultaneously in different regions of the country & # 34 ;, — Karin wrote in his Telegram channel.
He recalled that «the CSTO mission is exclusively peacekeeping and is designed for a short period of time.» «After the stabilization of the situation, the entire united peacekeeping contingent of the CSTO will be withdrawn from our country,» the Secretary of State of Kazakhstan added. 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 two-fold 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 updated information from the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the republic, 16 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 said 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.