Kazakhstan

A Russia-led military contingent completed its withdrawal from Kazakhstan as the country lifted a state of emergency Wednesday after unprecedented unrest in the Central Asian state.

From January 6 through January 19, Russia and its allies in the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) conducted a successful stabilization mission in Kazakhstan, at the latter country’s urgent request. … Collective in name but largely Russian in practice, this was the CSTO’s first real-world mission.

Kazakh ex-President Nursultan Nazarbaev has denied any conflict with his successor after deadly anti-government protests in the oil-rich Central Asian state earlier this month triggered allegations of a power struggle.

Peacekeeping troops deployed under a Moscow-led regional military alliance have begun pulling back from Kazakhstan, officials said. They were deployed amid anti-government protests that left scores of people dead.

Kazakh authorities said Wednesday they detained 1,678 more people in the past 24 hours over their alleged participation in the violent unrest that rocked the former Soviet nation last week, the worst since Kazakhstan gained independence three decades ago.

As the death toll from the recent unrest in Kazakhstan mounts to 164, the UN Office for Human Rights (OHCHR) on Tuesday requested “prompt, independent, impartial investigations” into the killings, and whether “unnecessary and disproportionate use of force was made by security forces”.

EU foreign ministers will this week discuss possible measures to respond to the crackdown against anti-government protests in Kazakhstan over the past week, a French minister said on Sunday (9 January).

Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said Monday that his country had weathered an attempted coup coordinated by what he called “a single center” after the most violent unrest since the former Soviet Republic gained independence.

Russia sent paratroopers into Kazakhstan on Thursday to help put down a countrywide uprising after deadly violence spread across the tightly controlled former Soviet state.

Security forces in Kazakhstan say they have killed dozens of anti-government rioters in an operation to restore order in the main city, Almaty. They moved in after protesters tried to take control of police stations in the city, a police spokeswoman said.