President Tokayev, who ordered troops to "shoot to kill without warning" and said protesters who failed to surrender will be "destroyed," has also blamed outsiders for unprecedented agitation. Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev speaks during a televised address to the nation following the protests triggered by fuel price increase in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan, Jan. Kazakhstan is an important regional power with vast energy resources.
The Kremlin doesn't accept the protests in Kazakhstan as genuine," she added. The last thing Moscow wants or needs is legitimate protests in a country it considers to be in its sphere of interest," said Melinda Haring, deputy director of the Eurasia Center of the Atlantic Council, a U.S.-based research organization. "It's a tense moment in the former Soviet Union, with Russian troops and tanks surrounding Ukraine on three sides. Maria Zakharova, the Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson, said unrest was foreign-backed and aimed to "undermine the security and integrity of the state by force, using trained and organized armed formations." Konstantin Kosachev, a senator who chairs the foreign affairs committee of Russia's upper house of parliament, said the protesters included Islamic militants who had fought in Afghanistan. Russia has previously accused Western powers of backing popular uprisings in the former Soviet states of Belarus, Georgia and Ukraine. 7, 2022, after violence that erupted following protests over hikes in fuel prices. Servicemen block a street in central Almaty, Jan. Russian officials and pro-Kremlin media have claimed the West is behind the agitation and is trying to foment another color revolution with the goal of disorienting Russia ahead of its major security talks next week with the United States and NATO amid fears the Kremlin may be considering invading Ukraine. Thursday saw videos circulating on social media showing Kazakh military units exchanging gunfire with armed opponents in Almaty. Protesters stormed government buildings Wednesday in Almaty, the country's largest city, and briefly occupied the airport, with reports of "dozens" of protesters being killed in clashes along with at least 12 policemen. He is still believed to rule behind the scenes, and protesters reference him with chants of "Get out, old man." On Wednesday, demonstrators in Taldykorgan, a town in southern Kazakhstan, pulled down his statue from the main square.
Sparked by a fuel price increase and cost-of-living grievances, the protests, which began in the oil-rich western part of the country, rapidly escalated this week into the worst violence the Central Asian nation has seen since turning independent 30 years ago.Īnd the grievances over fuel prices snowballed into a bigger threat against the government after Kazakh armed forces opened fire, killing dozens.ĭemonstrators have been demanding regime change and the departure of both Kazakhstan's president, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, and the country's 81-year-old former leader, Nursultan Nazarbayev, who stepped down three years ago after almost three decades in power but retained the official title of "leader of the nation."Ī view shows a burnt car following the protests triggered by fuel price increase outside the city administration headquarters in Almaty, Kazakhstan, Jan. Moscow, they say, must have been horrified by how quickly the protests spread in Kazakhstan, long seen as one of the most stable of the former Soviet countries. The speed with which Russia dispatched troops this week to help quell violent demonstrations in neighboring Kazakhstan is testimony to the Kremlin's recurring fear of "color revolutions," say Western diplomats and analysts.
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