Dozens killed as Kazakhstan cracks down on protests

Russian information company TASS reported that dozens of attackers had been killed as they stormed administrative buildings and the police division in Almaty, Kazakhstan’s largest metropolis.

They “have been eradicated and their identities are being established,” Saltanat Azirbek, a spokeswoman for the town’s police division, mentioned on Kazakh state tv channel Khabar 24, in line with TASS.

The channel additionally reported that 12 regulation enforcement officers had been killed and greater than 350 injured, in line with information company Interfax, reporting from the Kazakh capital Nur-Sultan. One of many officers was decapitated, the information company mentioned, citing reviews from Kazakh state media.

Authorities additionally reported that greater than 1,000 folks have been injured and 400 had been hospitalized.

Video revealed by TASS confirmed troopers within the streets discharging volleys of machine-gun hearth and supported by armored vans.

The protests started on Sunday in Kazakhstan’s western Mangistau area after the federal government lifted caps on costs for liquefied petroleum fuel, the primary gasoline for vehicles, inflicting costs to double. On Wednesday, the Collective Safety Treaty Group, a Russian-led intergovernmental army alliance, mentioned its troops had been despatched to Kazakhstan for a restricted time “to stabilize and normalize the state of affairs.”

The drive included items of the armed forces of Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, the CSTO mentioned, noting that the deployment could be for a restricted interval.

Their deployment got here after Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev mentioned Wednesday that he had sought help from the alliance to assist overcome what he described as terrorist menace.

It couldn’t be decided whether or not any of the troops had been concerned within the killing of the civilians.

The principle job of the alliance troops, who the group described as peacekeepers, could be to guard necessary state and army amenities and help Kazakh law-enforcement officers in stabilizing the state of affairs, the CSTO mentioned.

Russia, the strongest army drive within the alliance and longtime accomplice of Kazakhstan, has despatched airborne troops as a part of the mission, it mentioned.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has supported Mr. Tokayev and his predecessor Nursultan Nazarbayev, who had dominated Kazakhstan because the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991 and resigned in March 2019 however has continued to wield political affect behind the scenes.

On Wednesday, the Kremlin warned in opposition to exterior interference within the unrest confronted by its Central Asian ally.

On Thursday, Kazakhstan’s international ministry mentioned assaults on administrative and army amenities in Almaty, the seizure of the airport and the retention of international passenger and cargo plane was proof of a excessive degree of preparation and coordination and proved that the nation “confronted an armed incursion by terrorist teams skilled overseas.”

Russia’s international ministry echoed the sentiment, describing the occasions as “an try, impressed from the skin, to undermine the safety and integrity of the state by drive, utilizing skilled and arranged armed formations.”

Russia will proceed to seek the advice of with Kazakhstan and different allies within the CSTO to develop potential additional steps, “primarily to facilitate the conduct of the counterterrorist operation by the regulation enforcement companies of Kazakhstan,” Russia’s international ministry mentioned.

The cost of terrorism in opposition to protesters is incessantly utilized by authoritarian leaders in former Soviet republics to tarnish their opponents.

On Wednesday, White Home press secretary Jen Psaki dismissed what she described as “some loopy Russian claims” in regards to the U.S. being behind the unrest. “Let me simply use this chance to convey that’s completely false and clearly part of the usual Russian disinformation playbook we’ve seen numerous in previous years,” she mentioned.

The rebel is the newest amongst former Soviet republics that problem what protesters see as a corrupt, authoritarian mannequin of leaders backed by the Kremlin. Protesters in Ukraine pressured out a pro-Russian president in 2014, prompting Russia to ship troops to annex Crimea and whip up a battle in jap Ukraine. In Belarus final 12 months, Moscow-backed President Alexander Lukashenkobrutally suppressed protests in opposition to a rigged election.

Though triggered by a pointy rise in gasoline costs, the protests in Kazakhstan shortly grew to become pushed by common discontent with the regime that has held energy because the fall of the Soviet Union. Demonstrations have taken intention at financial woes and the nation’s authoritarian political system, which permits for little dissent.

Protests in 2016 had been sparked by deliberate land-privatization revisions that led to rumors that land may very well be snapped up by Chinese language buyers. On the identical time, the weak nationwide foreign money, the tenge, had despatched inflation hovering and restricted buying energy.

Mr. Tokayev, who was beforehand prime minister and speaker of the senate, took workplace in June 2019 after Mr. Nazarbayev handpicked him to be his successor. The previous chief has retained affect via his function as secretary of the safety council.

Mr. Tokayev renamed the nation’s capital Nur-Sultan after Mr. Nazarbayev and appointed the ex-president’s daughter to the highly effective function of speaker of the senate. Opposition events remained largely excluded from political life, protests had been typically banned and activist leaders arrested.

The Kazakh authorities has repeatedly promised to handle high-level corruption, higher share the wealth of the nation’s big pure sources, and to overtake its authoritarian political system. Frequent guarantees of mass privatization of state belongings, touted within the West as indicators of reform, have fallen brief.

This story has been revealed from a wire company feed with out modifications to the textual content