More troops from a Russia-led military alliance were expected to arrive in Kazakhstan on January 7 as government security forces seek to contain violent protests in the Central Asian nation.
Police in Kazakhstan’s largest city, Almaty, said early on January 6 that dozens of rioters had been “liquidated” over the past day as demonstrators stormed government buildings, set them on fire, and looted businesses.
An unknown number of people have reportedly been killed in at least two smaller towns, RFE/RL’s Kazakh Service reported.
The Interior Ministry said that 18 security personnel died in clashes with protesters. More than 2,000 people were arrested.
Since the protests erupted earlier this week, the Health Ministry said more than 1,000 people have been injured and 400 hospitalized. Sixty-two people are in the intensive care unit.
RFE/RL journalists in Almaty said security forces, some in armored vehicles, opened fire on the demonstrators on January 6 in Republican Square. At night, there were reports of explosions and gunfire in parts of commercial hub.
The spiraling violence prompted President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev on January 5 to ask the Moscow-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) to enter the country to help “stabilize” the situation.
The first Russian paratroopers quickly arrived, followed by troops from CSTO member Belarus on the evening of January 6. Units from Armenia and Tajikistan were expected on January 7, while Kyrgyzstan may also send troops if approved by parliament.
Developments on the ground have been murky with the government blocking the Internet and disruptions to mobile phone signals. Media has also been restricted.
Still, images of burnt-out cars littering the streets, damaged buildings, some with smoke billowing out of the windows and pockmarked facades, were emerging to show the depth of the violence that has wracked the country.
Angry demonstrators, some of whom were armed with rubber truncheons, sticks, and shields, set fire to a presidential residence and the mayor’s office in Almaty, where protesters also temporarily seized control of the airport. The airports in Almaty and one other city were shut down.
Toqaev has blamed foreign-trained “terrorist” gangs for the violence. Moscow has repeated Toqaev’s assertion that the uprising was foreign-inspired, describing actions of the military alliance as a “counter-terrorist operation.” Neither Kazakhstan nor Russia provided evidence to support the claim the protests are foreign backed.
The general secretary of CSTO, Stanislav Zas, told RIA news agency that the overall peacekeeping force would number about 2,500 and could be strengthened if necessary.
However, Zas said he expected a short mission of “several days or several weeks.”
The goal of the CSTO deployment is to protect “important state and strategic facilities” and maintain law and order, Zas said. He said CSTO troops would not be used to disperse demonstrators.
The rapid developments in the oil-rich country have sparked international concern.
The White House said it was closely monitoring reports about the deployment of troops from CSTO members and raised questions about whether they were legitimately invited to Kazakhstan.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken called for a “peaceful resolution” to the unrest in the country while European Union top diplomat Josep Borrell expressed “grave concern” about the situation, insisting civilian rights had to be protected and sounding a warning over foreign military involvement.
In a call with his Kazakh counterpart Mukhtar Tileuberdi, Blinken “reiterated the United States’ full support for Kazakhstan’s constitutional institutions and media freedom and advocated for a peaceful, rights-respecting resolution to the crisis,” the State Department said in a brief statement.
“Rights and security of civilians must be guaranteed. External military assistance brings back memories of situations to be avoided,” Borrell wrote on Twitter.
The unprecedented protests erupted in the western region of Mangystau on January 2 over the doubling in the price of subsidized liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), a popular fuel used in vehicles.
They then spread across Kazakhstan and morphed into calls for political reform in the tightly controlled country, where there is no real political opposition, inequality is high, and corruption is rampant.
In a bid to appease protesters, Toqaev tried to head off further unrest by announcing the resignation of the cabinet early on June 5, but protests intensified.
As protests escalated, authorities declared a nationwide state of emergency until January 19, with curfews, restrictions on movements, and bans on mass gatherings. The government made another concession on January 6, setting new fuel price limits for six months,
In a major move to distance himself from the past, Toqaev on January 5 removed his predecessor, 81-year-old Nursultan Nazarbaev, from the powerful post of head of the country’s security council and relieved a longtime Nazarbaev associate of his post as chairman of the National Security Committee (KNB).
Nazarbaev had retained wide authority through the post since stepping down in 2019 as president after three decades in power, the last Soviet-era Communist Party boss still ruling an ex-Soviet state.
Much of the protesters’ anger appeared directed at Nazarbaev, who critics accuse of enriching his family and allies while many in the nation of 19 million remained poor despite energy wealth.
The speed at which CTSO arrived in Kazakhstan was seen by some analysts as another sign of the Kremlin’s strategy to act quickly to safeguard its sphere of influence in the ex-Soviet Union.
In the past 15 months, Russia has backed Alyaksandr Lukashenka, the authoritarian ruler of Belarus who has faced a massive popular uprising, and acted as an intermediary to stop a war between Azerbaijan and Armenia. It also continues to support separatists in a war in eastern Ukraine and has recently massed tens of thousands of troops near the border with Ukraine, raising fears of a possible invasion.
Timothy Ash, senior strategist at Bluebay Asset Management, said the popular protests in Kazakhstan are a “threat” to Russian President Vladimir Putin and “an afront to his vision of autocracy and sovereign democracy.”
“He hates colored revolutions as these make him fearful that Russians could in turn rise up to overthrow him,” Ash said in a note to his subscribers, referring to protest movements that toppled pro-Russia leaders in Georgia in 2003 and Ukraine in 2014.
He added that Putin also fears “the prospect of a more liberal Kazakhstan turning to the West – he still sees Kazakhstan as falling under the Russian strategic umbrella.”
With reporting by RFE/RL’s Kazakh Service, AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters, and Kommersant.