CSTO’s peacekeeping forces will be temporarily in Kazakhstan, they will leave the country after stabilizing the situation. This is stated in the statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan, distributed through the Telegram channel Coronavirus2020.kz, which publishes official information on the current situation in the republic.
The foreign policy department noted that about 2500 peacekeepers involved in the protection of strategic objects and the cover of the Kazakhstani forces of law and order will return to their states in the first appeal of the Kazakhstani side.
On January 9, the official representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia Maria Zakharov said that Kazakhstan requested the assistance of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) at a critical moment. She clarified that Kazakhstan President Kasym-Zhomart Tokayev involved legitimate procedures. “After that, the CSTO partners acted as clearly and coordinated that many Western partners had a question: how quickly?”, Diplomat said.
In early January in Kazakhstan, due to the increase in the price of liquefied gas, mass protests broke out, which turned into riots. The most significant collisions with security forces occurred in Almaty. President Tokayev called protesters terrorists and turned to the CSTO countries. On January 6, peacekeepers began to work in Kazakhstan.