Explosions Y machine gun bursts could be heard late at night in the central square of Alma-Ata, epicenter of the protests that have rocked Kazakhstan for days. Given the turn that events have taken, the president Kassim Jovart Tokayev has chosen to ask the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a Russian-led military alliance that brings together several former Soviet republics. In the last hours, the security forces have fired to kill, killing “dozens of protesters” who had attacked government buildings and official headquarters, as the city police spokesman has admitted, Sultanate of Azirbek.
Russia has sent during the early hours of the day to 3,000 paratroopers that, according to official Russian sources, they had already begun to fulfill “their mission” in the Central Asian nation. Other countries belonging to the CSTO such as Belarus, Armenia Y some republics of Central Asia they have also dispatched troops, although in smaller quantities. To justify the dispatch of troops, the Kremlin has aired the existence of a external threat. “We see the events that occurred in this friendly country as a inspired attempt from the outside of violently undermining the security and stability of the state, “read a statement issued by the Russian Foreign Ministry.
Risky move
The participation of Russian troops constitutes “a risky movement in a country where there is a strong sense of national identity” and will surely entail “counterparts and transfers to Russia” by the local government, he values. Nicolas de Pedro, researcher at the British think tank Institute for Statecraft and a good connoisseur of the Central Asian country having resided there for several years. “Kazakhstan kept Russia as its main partner, the country’s rulers were aware that geography did not allow alternatives, but at the same time it made a balance and wanted to get along with the West; it had not recognized the annexation of Crimea,” says De Pedro. “All this will change” and President Jovart Tokáyev will be forced to anchor himself firmly on the side of the Kremlin in his dispute with the US and the EU, predicts the analyst.
According to police sources, around two thousand people they have been detained since the start of the riots. The Union of Business Networks of Kazakhstan has valued in more than 24 billion tengue (some $ 56 million) the economic losses caused by the mobilizations. Despite the disorders, the uranium production it has not been affected by the disorders.
The country’s connection through social networks via the internet has been interrupted, making it difficult to disseminate testimonies of what is happening. “We have seen deaths,” a woman confessed to an AFP journalist, declaring herself “very disappointed” by the reaction of the head of state against demonstrations that called for an end to the political influence of former president Nursultán Nazarbáyev, who ruled the country uninterruptedly since independence for almost three decades. Precisely, the absence of information about the ex-president, who has been stripped of his position as president of the Security Council as a measure to appease the anger of the protesters, intrigues the experts.
One of the questions that analysts are now asking is the effect that Kazakh crisis in the pulse that Russia maintains with the West centered on Ukraine. Talks between representatives of the US and Russia begin next week in Geneva to discuss the guarantees security that the Kremlin demands of Washington and its allies. “If the confrontations continue, Moscow will be forced to fight two fronts of instability on its borders, Ukraine and Kazakhstan,” states De Pedro. “If the revolt is put down, it will be more inclined to raise its demands, given that for the Kremlin, the problems in Kazakhstan come from abroad.” concludes.
Nursultan Nazarbayev, the former president of Kazakhstan accused by the protesters of having amassed a fabulous fortune During his long tenure, he owns a luxurious farm in Lloret de Mar called Can Juncadella located on a wooded hill in his municipal area. More than a chalet, it is a fortress heavily guarded which has caused numerous disputes and clashes with neighbors and locals. The land, of 20 hectares, was crossed by a parapet walk traditionally used by tourists Y walkers. When the Nazarbayev family acquired the property, in 2007, closed the route with a fence. Does two years, a Spanish judge agreed with the wealthy owners of the farm in the lawsuit that he maintained for this reason with the Lloret de Mar city council.
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Eddie is an Australian news reporter with over 9 years in the industry and has published on Forbes and tech crunch.