ALMATY: A Russia-led military alliance said it would send peacekeeping forces to "stabilise" Kazakhstan, blaming mass protests that have plunged the ex-Soviet country into chaos on "outside interference".
Long seen as one the most stable of the ex-Soviet republics of Central Asia, energy-rich Kazakhstan was facing its biggest crisis in decades after protesters angry over rising fuel prices stormed government buildings.
Kazakhstan's President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said in an address to the nation early on Thursday (Jan 6) that he had appealed to the Russia-led 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".
The CSTO's chairman, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, then said on Facebook that the alliance would send "collective peacekeeping forces ... for a limited period of time in order to stabilise and normalise the situation in this country" that was caused by "outside interference".
Tokayev said that "terrorists" were seizing buildings, infrastructure and "premises where small arms are located".
He added that they had also commandeered five planes at the airport in the country's biggest city Almaty and said that Kazakhstan's air forces were engaged in a "stubborn battle" near the city.
"I intend to act as tough as possible," he warned in an earlier address. "Together we will overcome this black period in the history of Kazakhstan."
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/world/russia-led-alliance-send-forces-unrest-hit-kazakhstan-2415481
