Protesters in Kazakhstan are said to have taken control of the international airport in Almaty on Wednesday night. NUPI researcher calls the development “disturbing”. Just before midnight on Wednesday, the President of Armenia confirms that CSTO is sending forces to the country.
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In a televised speech, the President of Kazakhstan addressed the Collective Security Pact (CSTO), a military alliance between Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. There he asked for help to quell the mass demonstrations in the country, which he believes poses a “terrorist threat”. Just before midnight Norwegian time, the President of Armenia replies that CSTO is sending forces.
VG has spoken with NUPI researcher who calls the development in the country “disturbing”.
– Such riots as we now see in Kazakhstan can easily have their own dynamics that it is difficult to stop, says researcher and Central Asian expert Helge Blakkisrud at the Norwegian Institute of Foreign Policy NUPI, to VG.
He says that the demonstrations and the uprising have spread far faster than most people would have thought in advance and that it is now taking place all over the country, not just in the southwest of the country where it all started.
Higher fuel prices are said to have been the spark that ignited a popular uprising against the government and president of Kazakhstan on Sunday night.
– It is clear that this met with a broader dissatisfaction with developments in the country. The authorities have responded by declaring a state of emergency, says Blakkisrud.
At least eight people from the country’s security forces have died as a result of the mass demonstrations, according to the Ministry of the Interior, which also reports 317 injured.
Watch video from the demonstrations:
A local journalist told CNN that around 10,000 protesters took part in the riots on Tuesday night, which culminated in the administration building outside the mayor’s office in the economic capital Almaty being set on fire. Flames and smoke were seen coming out of the building.
The protesters were armed with stones, sticks, pepper spray and Molotov cocktails, according to Interior Ministry officials.
The uprising is said to have spread to three Kazakh cities and on Wednesday, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev went on television and said that the prime minister had resigned and a new inmate and that the situation was under control.
–“As president, I am committed to protecting the peace and security of our citizens, and to ensuring the integrity of Kazakhstan,” Tokayev said in a televised speech.
The president assured the public that he had taken control of the country’s security council, reportedly to rule out questions about the role the former president, Nursultan Nazarbayev, may have played in the situation that led up to the drama in Kazakhstan on Tuesday and Wednesday.
– Kazakhstan has so far been a political and economic success story in an otherwise unstable region. The previous president, Nazarbayev, who was in power from the end of the Soviet era until 2019, pursued what can be called an authoritarian modernization policy, says Blakkisrud, and continues:
– It is often difficult for such authoritarian leaders to ensure a smooth takeover, but for a long time it seemed that Nazarbayev had succeeded. Now, however, it looks quite disturbing for the regime.
–Kazakhstan’s president on Wednesday night asked a Moscow-backed security alliance for help in cracking down on what he calls a “terrorist threat”:
In a televised speech, he addressed the Collective Security Pact (CSTO), a military alliance between Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.
There he asked for help to quell the mass demonstrations in the country, which he believes poses a “terrorist threat”. According to Tokayev, the demonstrations are led by terrorist gangs with training from abroad. At the same time, Tokayev stated that he had deployed armed forces from the military to break up the demonstrations.
Around 23:00 Norwegian time, Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan replies that they will send forces to Kazakhstan. He writes this on his own Facebook-side.
He writes that the decision to deploy peacekeeping forces for a limited period was taken in response to an appeal by Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.
Pashinyan does not say how many forces they will send or when this will happen.
The United States on Wednesday night condemned the violence and destruction in Kazakhstan and called on protesters and authorities to exercise restraint. The Foreign Ministry said in a statement, according to Reuters.
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