Security forces are used in a counterterrorism operation to stop mass unrest. Protests were sparked by rising fuel prices in the towns of Zhanaozen and Aktau in western Kazakhstan on 2 January and spread rapidly across the country.
The Russian-led CSTO pledged to send "peacekeepers" to Kazakhstan for a limited time period. Kazakh security forces (pictured here) have in some areas been driven back by demonstrators.Valery SharifulinTASS via Getty Images
  • Kazakhstan's government resigned following nearly a week of social unrest across the country.
  • Dozens have died amid protests over fuel prices and government corruption.
  • A Russian-led military alliance has been called in to quell the protests.

A Russian-led military alliance of post-Soviet states is sending what it called "peacekeeping forces" to Kazakhstan to help stabilize the country, after five days of widespread protests led the national government to resign. 

President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev on Thursday appealed to the Collective Security Treaty Organization — a military alliance between Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Belarus, and Armenia — for help as unrest continues to escalate in the Central Asian nation.

"Today, I appealed to the heads of CSTO states to assist Kazakhstan in overcoming this terrorist threat," Tokayev announced on state television Thursday, Agence France-Presse reported. 

Eight police officers and national guard troops, along with dozens of civilians, have been killed in the conflict, according to The New York Times.  

Nationwide unrest kicked off over the weekend when the oil-rich country lifted the cap on prices for liquefied petroleum gas, which led to a fuel price surge. 

The outrage over fuel prices then spilled over into political anger at the country's former president, Nursultan Nazarbayev, who until recently was the head of Kazakhstan's security arm. 

Nazarbayev led Kazakhstan following its exit from the Soviet Union from 1991 until 2019 and personally chose Tokayev as his successor, leading many to believe he still rules behind the scenes.

The 81-year-old is widely seen as a symbol of Kazakhstan's new elite, which have richly profited off of the country's natural resources while the average Kazakh lives on around $3,200 a year. 

Kazakhs recorded multiple videos chanting for the former president to be removed.

Another video circulating on Twitter shows protestors pulling down a bronze statue of Nazarbayev.

In a bid to appease protesters, Tokayev removed Nazarbayev from his powerful position as head of the Security Council on Wednesday. The rest of Tokayev's cabinet resigned the same day, and the president declared a state of emergency and overnight curfew.

Reports also surfaced that the country's entire internet system had gone offline.

"Citizens have the right to make public demands to local and central authorities, but this must be done in accordance with the law, in particular the law on peaceful protests," Tokayev tweeted on January 3, shortly after the protests began. Protesting without a permit is illegal in Kazakhstan.

"In view of the threat to national security and the sovereignty of the Republic of Kazakhstan," wrote Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, chairman of the CSTO, in a statement on Facebook, peacekeeping forces will be sent "for a limited period of time to the situation in the country for the purpose of stability and regulation." 

If the alliance fulfills its promise, it will be the first time the organization deploys troops to aid a member state since its founding in 1992, just after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

 

 

 

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