Sending peacekeepers of the Collective Security Treaty (CSTO) to Kazakhstan made it possible to avoid thousands of victims, said the former adviser to ex-president of the country Nursultan Nazarbayev Ermukhamet Yertysbayev on the air Youtube channel “Soloviev Live”.
He recalled that the territory of Kazakhstan is two million 724 thousand square kilometers. According to politics, Kazakhstan is able to cope with the unrest and without the CSTO troops, but it would be longer. “Whatever we collected, would pull up the army, it would take two weeks … And you can imagine? Thousands of victims would be,” he stressed.
Protests in Kazakhstan began due to increased fuel prices on January 2. The cost increased from 60 to 120 tenge (from 10 to 20 rubles) per liter. On January 4, the protesters entered into a clash with security forces, the mass pogroms began on January 5.
18 law enforcement officers were killed during the struggle with the riots. More than 700 police and servicemen were injured. January 10 declared a day of mourning.