The former head of the intelligence agency from Kazakhstan, Karim Masimov, fue arrested on charges of high treason during the riots this week in the Central Asian country. While the President Kassym Jomart Tokayev declared next January 10 as a day of national mourning for the “numerous human victims as a result of the tragic events that occurred in various regions of the country,” reported the press secretary of the Kazakh president.
Karim Masimov, a former Kazakh intelligence chief and prime minister, is a longtime ally of former President Nursultan Nazarbayev and was removed from his post as head of the KNB this week after protesters entered government buildings in the city of Almaty, the economic capital of the country. Just hours after his arrest, Tokayev’s press office reported on the departure of Deputy Secretary of the National Security Council, Azamat Abdimomunov. Prior to his dismissal, Abdimomunov participated in the meetings of the Anti-Terrorism Center of the National Security Committee on the fight against cyber threats and destructive religious movements.
Almost a week after the outbreak of protests over the rise in the price of gas that also led to criticism of former President Nazarbayev and his sucesor Tokayev, the Kazakh president and the president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, maintained a long telephone conservation. “They exchanged views on measures to restore order in Kazakhstan”said the Kremlin, which in turn added that the two leaders are in permanent contact.
This week in the face of mounting protests, Tokayev called for the cooperation of the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization to help local security forces. Some 2,300 troops were dispatched by the CSTO to Kazakhstan. Toyakev says the deployment is only temporary. However, from the United States the secretary of state has already spoken out against the decision.
“A lesson from recent history is that once the Russians are in your house, it is sometimes very difficult to get them to leave,” said the head of US diplomacy, Antony Blinken. For its part, The Russian Foreign Ministry criticized the diplomat’s remarks and dismissed Washington’s comments as a “crude” attempt to “joke about the tragic incidents in Kazakhstan.”.
“When Americans are in your home, it can be difficult to stay alive, not robbed or raped”, affirmed the Russian diplomacy in reference to the invasions in the lands of North American natives, as well as in countries like Korea, Vietnam, Panama, Iraq.
The Kazakh authorities assured that the situation was under control, but President Tokayev warned that the police are authorized to fire without warning and ruled out negotiating with the protesters. The Executive office also reported that next Monday it will be declared day of mourning. “In relation to the many victims of the tragic events in various regions of the country,” they indicated from the presidency.
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