Order 'largely restored' as Russia flies in troops says Kazakhstan president

A view shows the mayor's office building which was torched during protests triggered by fuel price increase in Almaty, Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan's president claimed on Friday that constitutional order had mostly been restored in the Central Asian country, hours after Russian-led troops arrived to help quell days of deadly unrest sparked by a fuel price hike.

"Law enforcement forces are working hard. The constitutional order has been largely restored in all regions," President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said in a statement, adding that security operations would continue "until the total destruction of the militants".

The embattled president was set to address the nation later in the day, according to state TV.

Armed protesters have fought running battles with government forces in Kazakhstan's main city Almaty, in what has long been seen as one the most stable of the ex-Soviet republics of Central Asia.

Kazakhstan's interior ministry said on Friday that 26 "armed criminals" had been "liquidated" and more than 3,000 of them detained, while 18 police and national guard servicemen had been killed since the start of the protests this week – the country's worst unrest since independence three decades ago.

Bursts of gunfire continued to echo through the streets of Almaty late on Thursday, a day after protesters stormed several government buildings, with an AFP correspondent hearing regular eruptions of gunfire from the direction of a central square.

Local media reports said security forces had cleared demonstrators from the square and other key government buildings, but there were also reports of gunfire elsewhere in the city.

The first units of Russian forces from a Moscow-led peacekeeping force had meanwhile arrived in Kazakhstan, the Russian defence ministry said, after the Kazakh government appealed for help.

‘So terrifying’

Burnt-out vehicles littered Almaty’s streets, several government buildings were in ruins and bullet casings were strewn over the grounds of the presidential residence, which was stormed and looted by protesters on Wednesday.

“I didn’t know our people could be so terrifying,” Samal, a 29-year-old nursery-school teacher, told AFP near the residence.

Under increasing pressure, President Tokayev appealed on Wednesday to the Russia-dominated Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO), which includes five other ex-Soviet states, to combat what he called “terrorist groups” that had “received extensive training abroad”.

Within hours the alliance said the first troops had been sent—including Russian paratroopers and military units from the other CSTO members—in its first major joint action since its founding in 1999.

“Peacekeeping forces... were sent to the Republic of Kazakhstan for a limited time to stabilise and normalise the situation,” the CSTO said in a statement, without specifying the number of troops involved.

The Russian foreign ministry said it saw the unrest as “an attempt inspired from outside to undermine the security and integrity” of Kazakhstan.

In the worst reported violence so far, police said dozens of people were “eliminated” in overnight battles with security forces at government buildings in Almaty.

Fuel price hike

Officials said more than 1,000 people had been wounded in the unrest, with nearly 400 admitted to hospital and 62 in intensive care.

Protests spread across the nation of 19 million this week in outrage over a New Year increase in prices for liquid petroleum gas (LPG).

Thousands took to the streets in Almaty and in the western province of Mangystau, saying the price rise was unfair given oil and gas exporter Kazakhstan’s vast energy reserves.

The full picture of the chaos was unclear, with widespread disruptions to communications including mobile phone signals, the blocking of online messengers and hours-long internet shutdowns.

The protests are the biggest threat so far to the regime established by Kazakhstan’s founding president Nursultan Nazarbayev, who stepped down in 2019 and hand-picked Tokayev as his successor.

Tokayev tried to head off further unrest by announcing the resignation of the cabinet early on Wednesday, but protests continued.

‘A revolution’

As protests escalated, authorities declared a nationwide state of emergency until January 19, with curfews, restrictions on movements and bans on mass gatherings.

The government made another concession on Thursday, setting new fuel price limits for six months, saying “urgent” measures were needed “to stabilise the socio-economic situation”.

Much of the anger appeared directed at Nazarbayev, who is 81 and had ruled Kazakhstan since 1989 before handing power to Tokayev.

Many protesters shouted “Old Man Out!” in reference to Nazarbayev and several witnesses confirmed to AFP that a statue of the ex-leader had been torn down in the southern city of Taldykorgan.

Western countries have called for restraint on all sides, with US State Department spokesman Ned Price warning Russian troops in Kazakhstan against taking control of the country’s institutions.

“The United States and, frankly, the world will be watching for any violation of human rights,” Price said.

France-based Kazakh opposition leader Mukhtar Ablyazov said that the country’s ruling regime was nearing its end.

“It is only a question now of how long,” the former energy minister told AFP in an interview.

“Literally in three days a revolution took place, and it is really a revolution in the public consciousness... people understood that they are not weak.”