According to the Kazakh leadership, more than 1,000 people have been injured in protests across the country so far over the past day. 400 people were hospitalized, 62 are in resuscitation.
Several hundred wounded are also in the ranks of the security forces – the police and the national guard. The leadership of Almaty, Kazakhstan’s largest city, has said that dozens of protesters have been killed in the riots or, as it is emphasized, the organizers and participants in the protests, but the exact number is not mentioned.
At the request of the Kazakh authorities, the countries of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) have decided to send their peacekeepers to Kazakhstan to stabilize the situation. A statement from the organisation’s secretariat states that the main purpose of peacekeepers will be to protect state institutions and military installations, as well as to assist the authorities in ensuring security.
Russian soldiers are going to go to Kazakhstan
Photo: AP
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A unit of Russian air force paratroopers has already been sent to Kazakhstan, but their number is not specified either. According to Alexander Baunov, a publicist and editor of the Carnegie.ru portal, in an interview with Dozh TV, these forces could not be called real peacekeepers.
“People who are brought in to cleanse the city of rebels are no peacekeepers. It is, at best, a military police operation. In the worst case, it is a military intervention, ”concludes Baunov.
“Peacekeepers keep their peace. They are concerned about maintaining the peace that has been achieved, but there is currently no peace in Kazakhstan. As long as there is no reassurance and understanding of which parties and what they are able to agree on and where peacekeepers can stand in the middle between them, they are not, in essence, peacekeepers, but interventions. ”
Since the escalation of the situation in Kazakhstan, many commentators have suggested that what is happening in this pro-Russia country could be linked to the forthcoming Russia-NATO talks on the situation in Ukraine. There are speculations in Moscow that the protests were staged by the Americans to weaken Russia, while in the West it is believed that Russia is trying to use the volatile situation to send another signal to NATO about the seriousness of its plans.
According to political scientist Valery Solovei in an interview with the radio station “Echo of Moscow”, due to the events in Kazakhstan, Ukraine will most likely remain on the political agenda, not disappear from it.
“The fact is that if the regime in Kazakhstan falls – it is not inevitable, but it already seems quite credible – then Russia will need a breakthrough to confirm the success of its current policy and claim control of the post-Soviet space. And there are two possible scenarios, ”says Solovay.
“The first is to bring forces into Kazakhstan and occupy the northern part of Kazakhstan. This plan has been known for a long time, but it is currently difficult to implement. The second, more plausible option, is much more decisive pressure on Ukraine to try to prove that it is the Kremlin that controls the post-Soviet space. And this will mean an increase in risks for Ukraine at least for a while. As far as I know, no decisions have been made yet, but the situation is evolving very fast and decisions can be made tonight or at night tomorrow. “
Kyrgyzstan and Belarus have also promised assistance to the Kazakh leadership. The Minsk statement states that a violent coup attempt is taking place in Kazakhstan, as evidenced by the highly coordinated activities of the rebels. Other commentators, as well as Kazakh journalists, say that the unrest is characterized by a lack of leadership.
More and more countries around the world are condemning the violence in Kazakhstan. The United Nations has also called on all parties to the conflict to refrain from escalating violence.
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