Fire-damaged building of the Akimat in Alma-AtaMINSK, Jan 15CSTO Secretary General Stanislav Zas said that the situation in Kazakhstan is improving, a turning point has come, but the country's authorities still have a lot of work to do. «To say that the situation has now returned to normal, probably, it will not be entirely correct,» Zas said in an interview with Belarus TV channel 1″ shown on Saturday. He explained that the state of emergency has not yet been lifted in all regions of Kazakhstan. “But at the same time, the situation is improving, the turning point has already come. And we can say that the country is returning to normal life,” Zas said. However, he believes that the authorities of Kazakhstan, first of all, law enforcement agencies, still have a lot of work ahead. 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.
The CSTO peacekeepers had no conflicts with the residents of Kazakhstan, said the Secretary General
