Russian-led troops begin withdrawing from Kazakhstan
- ‘The peacekeeping operation is over … the tasks have been fulfilled,’ said the commander of troops from Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan sent in
- Almaty, the country’s biggest city, was devastated as security forces clamped down on protesters demonstrating over a rise in fuel prices and deteriorating living standards
More than 2,000 Russian-led troops began withdrawing from Kazakhstan after being deployed when peaceful protests over an energy price hike turned into unprecedented violence claiming dozens of lives.
The decision to dispatch peacekeepers was a first for the Moscow-led Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO), often touted by Russia as a Nato equivalent but previously reluctant to interfere in unrest in Central Asia – a region with long historical ties to Russia.
At a ceremony marking the end of the CSTO mission, soldiers lined up as anthems from each of the six CSTO member countries were played before official speeches began.
“The peacekeeping operation is over … the tasks have been fulfilled,” said Russian General Andrei Serdyukov, commander of the CSTO contingent that saw troops from Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan sent to the former Soviet republic on January 6.
The Russian defence ministry said the “collective peacekeeping forces … are starting to prepare equipment and materiel for loading into the planes of the military transport aviation of the Russian aerospace forces and returning to the points of permanent deployment”