Kazakhstan says ‘strategic facilities’ under guard after unrest

A number of “strategic facilities” in Kazakhstan are under the guard of a Russia-led military alliance invited to restore order, the presidential office said on Sunday, amid the deadliest outbreak of violence in the country’s 30 years of independence. Dozens of people have been killed, thousands detained and public buildings have been torched across the Central Asia country in the past week, prompting President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev to issue shoot-to-kill orders to end unrest he has blamed on what he terms bandits and terrorists.

At Tokayev’s invitation, the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) sent troops to restore order.

The administration said 5,800 people had been arrested in connection with the unrest, including a “significant number” of foreign citizens. It said the situation had stabilised in all regions.

The demonstrations in Kazakhstan began as a response to a fuel price hike before spiralling into a broad movement against Tokayev’s government and his predecessor Nursultan Nazarbayev.

 

 

 

Source: VOV5

 

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