President of Kazakhstan orders “shooting without warning” against protesters | International

“Whoever does not surrender will be destroyed.” With these words, the President of Kazakhstan, Kasim-Yomart Tokáyev, addressed his people, who in an appearance gave the order to fire without warning at the protesters who have taken to the streets since the beginning of this year to protest the increased fuel prices and have raised their voices against the Kazakh regime. That order represents an escalation in the wave of repression that is hitting Kazakhstan and that threatens to exacerbate tension in the former Soviet republic. “What a stupid thing. What negotiations can there be with criminals and murderers? ”Said the president, who since the crisis began has also led the Security Council, after relieving Nursultán Nazarbayev, supreme leader between 1991 and 2019. The Ministry of the Interior of Kazakhstan has reported this Friday that 26 activists have been “liquidated”, another 26 people have been injured and 3,811 have been arrested. Authorities have also announced that 18 members of the security forces have died and more than 740 have required medical assistance since the protests began.

“We have had to deal with bandits and trained terrorists. Therefore, it is necessary to destroy them and this will be done shortly, ”said Tokáyev. At the same time, he claimed that the protests were instigated by “foreign figures.” “Only 20,000 bandits arrived in Almaty,” stressed the president during his speech. The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) has so far dispatched 2,500 soldiers to the country, the secretary general of this Moscow-led military alliance, Stanislav Zas, told the Russian news agency RIA Novosti.

However, the arrival of Russian military personnel in Kazakhstan is constant. The Russian Defense Ministry reported that 75 aircraft will be used to deploy troops in the Central Asian republic. Tokayev, 68, thanked Russian President Vladimir Putin “for his camaraderie in response to Kazakhstan’s request for support.” This is the first CSTO intervention since its creation in 1992, involving Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. The Kyrgyz Parliament approved this Friday the dispatch of the military after having postponed the decision one day due to its unpopularity and lack of quorum in the lower house. According to some deputies, the intervention in the internal affairs of the country contradicts the spirit of the CSTO, since, according to article 4 of the organization, activated by Tokáyev on Wednesday night, the allies will only be able to intervene “in case of an aggression” that “threatens the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the member country.”

The CSTO mission strengthens the protection of Tokáyev and his circle from any internal threat. The head of the Committee for the Affairs of the Commonwealth of Independent States (an organization made up of nine former Soviet republics) of the Duma (Lower House of the Russian Parliament), Leonid Kalashnikov, stressed this week that the troops will not get involved in the confrontations that have place now in the streets and they will only be in charge of protecting “infrastructure and strategic places”.

Although the Kazakh government has cut the internet, images of the massacres committed have been broadcast on some Telegram channels, with morgues full of bodies, protesters killed in the streets and buildings on fire. In the early days of the protests, images could be seen of Kazakh soldiers and police retreating from public buildings or kneeling before protesters.

Faced with such a situation, Tokayev took a turn: the president on Wednesday dismissed the prime minister, Askar Mamin, and his entire Cabinet, and formed another acting Executive led by the hitherto deputy prime minister, Alijan Smailov. Likewise, Tokáyev also removed that day the head of the National Security Committee, the head of his espionage services, Karim Masimov, and took control of the Security Council, the body that coordinates all the security forces and that Nazarbayev has headed since who left the presidency in 2019 and chose the current president as his dolphin.

During his speech, Tokayev accused the press of provoking the protests. “The free media and foreign figures, who are far from the fundamental interests of our multinational people, instigate the violation of law and order,” said the president, who also applauded his 2020 reform to limit the right to manifestation. “It is a great step forward in the promotion of democracy in our country because it is not permissive, it is necessary to notify rallies and assemblies. So-called human rights defenders and activists put themselves above the law and believe that they have the right to meet wherever they want and chat about what they want, ”Tokayev said.

Coordination is complete between Moscow and the Kazakh government. At the military level, the Russian Defense Minister, Sergei Shoigu, maintains constant contact through closed communication channels with the rest of the CSTO members, according to the TASS agency. And on the political level, Putin has spoken with Tokayev “repeatedly” by phone, as confirmed by Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov. Furthermore, “Shoigu continuously informs Putin of the dispatch of peacekeepers to Kazakhstan and the fulfillment of the assigned tasks,” added Peskov.

One of Russia’s strategic enclaves in Kazakhstan is the Baikonur Cosmodrome. The authorities have reinforced security there and have decreed that groups of more than three people cannot form in the city (officially to avoid coronavirus infections). In addition, the level of terrorist alert has been raised in the town of 75,000 inhabitants, where the employees of the space launch base reside, although the evacuation of the Russians is not planned, according to its City Council to the Interfax agency. “We ask to remain calm, avoid panic and not believe the rumors. The situation is under control ”, the local Administration has recommended.

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