The first President of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev. File photoMOSCOW, Jan 19Kazakh Foreign Minister Mukhtar Tleuberdi said he did not think that the country's ex-president Nursultan Nazarbayev and his relatives were involved in the unrest in the country, but the investigation will show, the Euractiv portal reports. Tileuberdi said that he does not think so, but the investigation will eventually show it,» the portal said. 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 country's Prosecutor General's Office, 4,578 people were injured as a result of the riots, 225 people were killed, including 19 security officials. On the morning of January 5, Kazakh President 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. Later, 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. The successful completion of the CSTO mission was announced on January 13, peacekeepers began to return from Kazakhstan.
