Kazakhstan: President appoints new prime minister for Russian-led troops to withdraw

President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev announced on Tuesday that a contingent of Russian-led forces would begin to leave Kazakhstan in two days, as the country’s parliament elected former finance minister Alikhan Smailov as the new prime minister.

Addressing the government and parliament in a live-streamed video conference, Tokayev, 68, also vowed to carry out reforms, control inflation and raise wages as the energy-rich post-Soviet country emerges from a week of deadly unrest.

Kazakhstan and Russia have framed last week’s unrest that arose out of a peaceful protest against rising energy prices in the west of the country that left dozens dead as a coup attempt assisted by foreign “terrorists”. but they have provided little evidence to back up the claim. .

Following a request from Tokayev, the Moscow-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) deployed troops to bring order and reinforce the authorities.

On Tuesday, Tokayev announced that “a gradual withdrawal” would begin in two days and should take “no more than 10 days.”

“The main mission of the CSTO peacekeeping forces was successfully completed,” he said.

The CSTO mission of more than 2,000 soldiers was dispatched at the height of the crisis last week, after armed clashes between government opponents and security forces and a series of looting that left parts of the larger city of Almaty almost unrecognizable.

The decision to send troops as peacekeepers was a first for the CSTO, often touted by Moscow as a NATO equivalent, but previously reluctant to interfere in unrest in Central Asia, a region with long-standing historical ties to Russia. .

Concerns have grown that Moscow could use the mission to strengthen its influence in Kazakhstan.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned last week that “once the Russians are in your house, it is sometimes very difficult to get them to leave.”

The new prime minister of Kazakhstan

Meanwhile, Tokayev, who previously fired the government in an attempt to ease dissent, nominated Alikhan Smailov as the country’s new prime minister, and the lower house of parliament quickly voted him on for the job.

The 49-year-old official previously served as Kazakhstan’s Minister of Finance from 2018 to 2020.

In 2019, he became the first deputy prime minister of the previous cabinet that Tokayev removed from office.

The death toll from last week’s protests is unclear, as reliable information is difficult to verify in the tightly controlled former Soviet country.

However, the Kazakh security forces have detained nearly 10,000 people in the unrest, the Kazakh Interior Ministry revealed on Tuesday.

The crisis has exposed internal struggles at the top of the government.

Tokayev’s mentor, founding president Nursultan Nazarbayev, has yet to appear publicly since the crisis began, although his aide has claimed that the 81-year-old strongman was in the capital Nur-Sultan and in dialogue with Tokayev.

Former head of the national security committee, Karim Masimov, a key Nazarbayev ally who many believe perpetuates the retired president’s influence over the government, was also arrested on Saturday.

But Tokayev appears to have further strengthened his position by backing acting Prime Minister Alikhan Smailov to take office permanently.

Previously, he had blamed the committee previously controlled by Masimov for leaving Kazakhstan cities during the crisis.

“Despite a sufficient military arsenal, without going into battle, they abandoned the buildings, leaving behind weapons and secret documents,” Tokayev revealed, promising to reform security structures to make the “defense of citizens” his top priority.

“A terrorist war was unleashed against our country. The enemy showed extreme cruelty and willingness to take any measure, sowing fear among the population to suppress even the very idea of ​​resistance,” Tokayev added.

“We could have lost the country.”