Russia Led Bloc Begins Handover Of Protected Sites To Kazakhstan's Military

The command staff of the Collective Security Treaty Organization’s (CSTO) peacekeeping forces and Kazakhstan’s Defense Ministry are working on a plan to hand the sites that are being protected by peacekeepers over to the country’s law enforcement agencies, Commander of the CSTO’s collective peacekeeping forces Colonel General Andrey Serdyukov told reporters.

"The CSTO collective peacekeeping forces’ command staff and the Kazakh Defense Ministry are working on a plan to hand the sites that are being protected by peacekeepers over to the country’s law enforcement agencies," he said.

Serdyukov emphasized that after completing their mission, the peacekeeping forces, together with the Kazakh authorities, would arrange the return of peacekeepers to their permanent bases on flights operated by the Russian Aerospace Forces.

Protests erupted in various Kazakh cities on January 2, escalating into mass riots that involved attacks on police officers, service members and government buildings in many cities of the country, primarily in Almaty. Thousands of people were injured, and the number of casualties is unknown. The CSTO sent peacekeepers to the Central Asian country at President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev’s request. Law and order, the Kazakh authorities affirm, was generally restored to all of the country’s regions.