The events that are taking place in Kazakhstan pose a real threat to the country’s security, stability and even territorial integrity, Secretary-General of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), Stanislav Zas, told Sputnik in an exclusive interview, Report informs.
“The events that are now taking place there pose a real threat to the country’s security, stability and even territorial integrity. So, we have received an appeal, held emergency consultations of the heads of state and made an appropriate decision to use the peacekeeping potential of the CSTO in order to minimize and localize these threats there,” he noted.
Mass protests in Kazakhstan began in the early days of 2022. The residents of the cities of Zhanaozen and Aktau in the Mangystau Province - an oil-producing region in the west of the country - opposed a two-fold increase in prices for liquefied petroleum gas, then the protests spread to other cities. A state of emergency has been introduced in Kazakhstan for two weeks. President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev dismissed the government and headed the republic’s Security Council.