© Mariya Gordeyeva
In Almaty, the economic capital of Kazakhstan, on Thursday.
The riots that shook the country were quelled after the intervention of Russian troops. If a certain calm seems to have returned, communications remain cut and the toll of violence remains difficult to quantify.
At least 164 dead, including 103 in Almaty, the country’s economic capital: the toll of a week of demonstrations and repression in Kazakhstan is much heavier than previously announced. Again on Saturday, the authorities reported 26 “armed criminals»Killed and more than a thousand wounded as well as 16 killed and more than 1,300 wounded among the police. And these are still official figures, difficult to verify in the totally locked down country. Internet cut, no foreign correspondent on the ground, the only sources of information since the outbreak of an unprecedented protest on January 2 are Kazakhstani or Russians.
Vladimir Poutine “especially thanked”
“Today, the situation is stabilized in all regions”, Interior Minister Erlan Turgumbayev said, adding however that “The counterterrorism operation continues to restore order in the country”. Nearly 6,000 people have been arrested and 125 inquiries into the riots opened, the Interior Ministry also said. The repression of the protest that began in the country after the increase in gas prices before spreading to Almaty and in all the major cities, has become more and more ferocious in recent days. Refusing any dialogue with the demonstrators, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said on Friday that he was authorizing his forces to “shoot to kill“. The Kazakh head of state felt strengthened after appealing to Moscow to help him put down the protest at home. The prompt intervention of Russian troops on the ground was decisive in enabling him to impose his power. Sending a “collective peacekeeping force to protect state and military installations» and assisting the Kazakh law enforcement agencies was done within the framework of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) which brings together Russia and five former allied Soviet republics. This is the first action of the CSTO since its creation twenty years ago.
President Tokayev made a point of “Thank especially” Vladimir Poutine during a telephone conversation, Saturday, the Kremlin said. This call for armed support from Russia carries internal and external political implications for Kazakhstan. Because, in addition to social causes, the protest targeted the figure of former President Nursultan Nazarbayev, who reigned with an iron fist over Kazakhstan from 1989 to 2019 before giving way to Tokayev. But he remained influential on the scene at the head of a leadership of the National Security Council, from which he has just been dismissed. The fate of this former potentate remains uncertain, as does his role in the recent unrest. Signs point to an internal power struggle. The arrest for “treason“By the former head of the national security agency Kajymkanouli Massimov, sacked after the riots, is the main indicator. This former Prime Minister is close to Nazarbayev. If the latter came out of his silence to call on the population to support the government, Tokayev has meanwhile placed himself under the protection of another, much more powerful autocrat: Vladimir Poutine.
Diversify your alliances
On the strategic level, internal disturbances in Kazakhstan send the country back into the fold of Russia while it was trying to diversify its alliances, in particular by getting closer to Turkey and China as well as to the West. The United States estimated that it would be “very difficult” for Kazakhstan to obtain the departure of the Russian military, a criticism which Moscow on Saturday called “Rude”. On the eve of the crucial meeting in Geneva between Americans and Russians to talk about Ukraine and Europe, Moscow has ruled out any discussion on Kazakhstan. “This question does not concern them at all”, swept Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Riabkov on Sunday.
ALSO ON MSN – Kazakhstan: Russian CSTO forces “have completed their deployment”
Kazakhstan: Russian CSTO forces “have completed their deployment”
Suggested videos
-
CAN: “The Maghreb countries are always messing up”, says Roger Milla
Le Figaro
-
Ukraine: a diplomatic solution with Russia is “still possible”, according to the United States
Le Figaro
-
Sponsorships: Valérie Pécresse considers it “problematic” that the signatures of the mayors are public
Le Figaro
-
Sponsorships: Zemmour “must be able to represent his current of thought” in the presidential election, according to Valérie Pécresse
Le Figaro
-
Presidential 2022: “The role of a president is to take them away, not to piss them off”, affirms Pécresse
Le Figaro
-
Le Club Le Figaro Présidentielle: your new meeting on Tuesday evening 8 p.m., on Figaro Live
Le Figaro
-
Covid ‘won’t be here forever’ in current form, Biden promises
Le Figaro
-
Ukraine: “Important consequences” in the event of further aggression by Russia, warns NATO
Le Figaro
-
Why 2022 could be the year of the end of the Covid
Le Figaro
-
“Eric Zemmour took the risk of preventing the voters’ choice”: Marine Le Pen in attack in Béziers, with Robert Ménard
Le Figaro
-
Vaccination pass: It’s okay but it’s boring
Le Figaro
-
Why do young people no longer go to nightclubs
Le Figaro
-
Footballer Benjamin Mendy, accused of seven rapes, is released on bail
Le Figaro
-
“Emergencies in danger, caregivers at their end”: a minute of silence observed in front of the Bordeaux University Hospital
Le Figaro
-
“It could last more than a week”: thousands of trucks stranded between China and Vietnam
Le Figaro
-
Kabul: Taliban put up posters asking women to wear the hijab
Le Figaro
Click here to enlarge
-
CAN: “The Maghreb countries are always messing up”, says Roger Milla
On Wednesday, the former Cameroonian international raised a rant at the microphone of TV5 Monde against the Maghreb nations. “The Maghreb countries are always messing up”, he declared, targeting “Morocco, Egypt or other”.
Le Figaro
-
Ukraine: a diplomatic solution with Russia is “still possible”, according to the United States
According to Antony Blinken, head of American diplomacy, a “diplomatic solution” with Russia “is still possible” if Moscow plays the game of dialogue. He added that the United States is “ready to respond forcefully to further Russian aggression” in Ukraine.
Le Figaro
-
Sponsorships: Valérie Pécresse considers it “problematic” that the signatures of the mayors are public
This Saturday, Valérie Pécresse held a press conference. Regarding sponsorships, she considered it “problematic” that the signatures of mayors are public.
Le Figaro
NEXT VIDEO