Status: 07.01.2022 8:10 a.m.
After violent protests in Kazakhstan, President Tokayev has declared that the situation in the country is under control again. In bellicose rhetoric, the government speaks of 26 dead. The west looks sorrowful at the country.
After several days of violent protests, the Kazakh leadership claims to have regained control of the situation in the country. According to his office, the constitutional order has largely been restored, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said. However, the anti-terrorist operations would continue: “until the bandits were completely destroyed.” In Almaty in the south-east of the country, where the riots were particularly violent, armed demonstrators are said to have holed up in the building of a television station.
The Interior Ministry said 26 “armed criminals” had been “liquidated” and more than 3,000 had been arrested. 18 police officers and national guardsmen were killed on the part of the security forces. State television announced that Tokayev would make a speech to the nation that day.
Russia sends support
The protests were sparked by a government-imposed increase in fuel prices. However, the resignation of the government shortly afterwards and the withdrawal of the price increase for LPG did not calm people down. Many accuse the authorities and the elite of the oil-rich Central Asian country of getting rich, while most of the 19 million inhabitants remain poor.
At the request of Kazakhstan, Russia sent soldiers to assist as part of a joint military alliance. According to the Secretary General of the CSTO, they have the right to use firearms if they are attacked. The soldiers are supposed to protect government buildings and critical infrastructure – and stay in the country until the situation has calmed down completely.
The Kazakh and Russian leadership blame foreign forces for the serious unrest, the dead and many injured. There is talk of fighters from the Middle East and Afghanistan.
International reminders
Meanwhile, the international community continues to look to Kazakhstan with concern. “A quick calming down of the situation is essential in order to avert further bloodshed, a destabilization of the country and thus damage to Kazakhstan as a business and investment location,” declared the Eastern Committee of German Business. Kazakhstan is “by far the most important German trading partner in Central Asia”.
The Foreign Office reported that they were exchanging ideas with closest local partners about developments in Kazakhstan. The task now is to find a peaceful solution “within the framework of a comprehensive dialogue with all those involved”. The violence, but also the massive restrictions on access to the Internet and social media, are viewed with concern. Kazakhstan’s obligations under the OSCE to uphold fundamental freedoms also included maintaining free access to information, freedom of the press and freedom of assembly.
The organization Reporters Without Borders lamented reports of police violence against media representatives in the country. In addition, the Internet was repeatedly blocked in the ex-Soviet republic. “That makes it difficult to provide independent information about what is going on.”
The USA also spoke out again for a peaceful solution to the crisis. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken phoned his Kazakh colleague Muchtar Tleuberdi on Thursday evening. Blinken had reaffirmed “the United States’ full support for the constitutional institutions of Kazakhstan and the freedom of the media,” the State Department in Washington said later. There were also warnings from the EU that the violence must come to an end.
The situation in Kazakhstan remains tense
Christina Nagel, ARD Moscow, 7.1.2022 6:49 a.m.