The former head of Kazakhstan’s domestic intelligence agency has been detained on suspicion of high treason, two days after he was relieved of the position amid violent protests.
The National Security Committee provided no further details about the January 8 detention of Karim Masimov, while noting that other unidentified security officials were also detained.
The 56-year-old Masimov is a former prime minister seen as a longtime associate of former President Nursultan Nazarbaev, a major target of public anger during the deadly unrest that erupted last week over rising fuel costs. Masimov had held the position since his appointment in 2016.
The move came as Kazakhstan’s Interior Ministry announced that more than 4,000 people had been detained in ongoing operations to quell the demonstrations, which led to a request for intervention by a Russia-led regional military alliance.
Earlier, the Central Asian country’s president gave permission for security forces to open fire on what he called “bandits” and “terrorists,” labels protesters have dismissed.
Smatterings of gunfire were heard overnight into the morning of January 8 in the commercial capital Almaty, the focal point of days of rioting and harsh security response.
Dozens of people — including 18 security officers – have been killed in clashes, officials said.
Protesters earlier in the week torched and ransacked public buildings in several cities in the worst violence in the Central Asian state’s 30 years of independence.
In a defiant national address on January 7, President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev said order had largely been restored across the country as he gave a green light for the police and army to “open fire without warning.”
“The anti-terrorist operation continues in our country. The police, the national guard, and the army are carrying out large-scale and well-coordinated efforts to restore law and order,” Toqaev said, according to the president’s office.
In the face of mounting unrest and apparent uncertainty over the loyalty of law enforcement and military forces, Toqaev declared a state of emergency and on January 5 asked the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) to help provide security.
Within hours, the first Russian paratroopers arrived, followed by units from fellow CSTO members Belarus, Armenia, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan. Around 2,500 troops from the alliance are expected to deploy to Kazakhstan, for what Toqaev described as a “a short period of time.”
It’s unclear whether CSTO troops have helped put down protests, but the alliance and officials from participating countries say units will only secure key infrastructure and facilities.
Russian soldiers deployed at Almaty airport, helped secure key facilities in the city, and are providing security at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, where Russia launches satellites and space missions, RFE/RL’s Kazakh Service reported.
The speed at which the CSTO arrived on the scene in Kazakhstan was seen by some analysts as another sign of the Kremlin’s strategy to act quickly to safeguard its influence in the former Soviet Union.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Washington has questions about Kazakhstan’s request for assistance from the CSTO.
The top U.S. diplomat said on January 7 that Kazakh authorities “certainly have the capacity to deal appropriately with protests” in a way that respects the rights of protesters while maintaining law and order.
“So it’s not clear why they feel the need for any outside assistance, so we’re trying to learn more about it,” Blinken said. “I think one lesson in recent history is that once Russians are in your house, it’s sometimes very difficult to get them to leave.”
Information has been slow to come out of the country after Internet, mobile services, and other communication were shut down or disrupted. Some journalists reported at least a partial restoration of Internet services that had been cut off, but connection problems were still hampering communication.
The protests erupted in the western region of Mangystau on January 2 over the doubling in the price of subsidized liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) before spreading and morphing into calls for political reform in the tightly controlled country.
