Workers during restoration work on the fire-damaged Akimat building in Almaty. Archive photoMINSK, Jan 15President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko said that Kazakhstan was faced with an attempt of external interference in internal affairs, these threats are common to the post-Soviet space. «We understand that the events in our brotherly republic are another attempt of external interference in the internal affairs of independent states, and the threats that faced by Kazakhstan are common to most states in the post-Soviet space,» Lukashenka said on Saturday at a meeting with a peacekeeping contingent that completed its mission in Kazakhstan. His words are quoted by the official website of the President of Belarus.Khrenin thanked the Belarusian peacekeepers who returned from KazakhstanThe head of the Belarusian state noted the successful completion of the CSTO peacekeeping operation in Kazakhstan to resolve the crisis. 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-terrorist operation. 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 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, peacekeepers are returning from Kazakhstan.
