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Rising fuel prices and political instability have caused an unprecedented crisis
Kazakhstan these days are experiencing the biggest protests in its post-Soviet history, which led to violent riots with fatalities among protesters, classified as “terrorists” by the Government, and among members of the security forces.
These are the keys to the crisis in the largest republic in central Asia.
Rise in fuel prices
The protests in the second economy of the post-Soviet space were unleashed on January 2 after the rise in the price of liquefied gas, principal combustible The country’s automotive company, which doubled its price from 60 tengue per liter to 120 (0.14-0.28 dollars).
The general discontent initially originated in western Mangystau, but quickly spread throughout the country.
At the same time, the slogans of an economic and social nature gradually led to political claims.
Fed up with the old elites
Many analysts now attribute the protests to satiety of the Kazakhs with the old elites, which has been growing in recent years and has reached its peak after a new rise in prices.
The main demand of the Government’s detractors is to end the time of the former president Nursultan Nazarbayev, whom opponents accuse of still holding the political power in Kazakhstan in the shadow of the current president.
One of the most viral images of the current protests has been the demolition of one of the Nazarbayev monuments in the town of Taldicorgan, in the southeast of the country.
Kazakhstan lacks a royal opposition, having the ruling party, Nur Otan, practically all of the power in the country. Precisely the absence of a political force that can express the concerns of the citizens is, according to experts, one of the causes of the current crisis.
In the parliamentary elections held a year ago, Nur Otan revalidated his leadership in the Majilis (the lower house of the Kazakh Parliament) after garnering more than 71% of the support.
The Kazakh President, Kasim-Yomart Tokayev, had set as one of its objectives after replacing Nazarbayev the development of the democracy and from multipartidismoTasks that the authorities will have to carry out more quickly to avoid new crises in the future.
Radicalization of protests
The protests began with marches and peaceful demonstrations against the rise in fuel prices, but in a few days they charged a very violent character with attacks on policemen and looting of shops.
According to the authorities, at least 13 soldiers have lost their lives in the riots.
There have also been “dozens” of protesters who, according to the authorities, belong to terrorist groups. The number of those arrested exceeds 2,000 in the city of Almaty alone, the largest in the country.
Arrival of forces of the post-Soviet military alliance
The current crisis in Kazakhstan has led to the intervention of the forces of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a military bloc in the post-Soviet space that groups six countries and is led by Russia.
Nur-Sultan requested this Wednesday the help of the members of the CSTO before the “terrorist threat“facing the country and hours later the organization gave its approval to the deployment of more than 3,800 military personnel in Kazakhstan for the “stabilization of the situation”.
It’s about the first time Since its creation, the post-Soviet alliance has intervened in defense of one of its members.
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Internet outages, difficult coverage
During the protests in Kazakhstan internet and telephone operators They have reported difficulties for the correct provision of services.
As a consequence, the information about events in the country is limited and it comes many times through social networks or fast messaging applications.
Several media outlets were unable to communicate with their co-managers in the country for several hours, especially on Wednesday, the day of massive disturbances.
The protests in Kazakhstan have already caused damages valued at 92 million dollars, according to the Kazakh business community.
Furthermore, events in the ex-Soviet republic, which has the oil reserves largest in the post-Soviet space after Russia, threaten to cause a rise in oil prices.
And it is that the Kazakh crisis has already had an impact on the prices of uranium in the world market as the Central Asian Republic is the main producer of this mineral.
In addition, political instability in Kazakhstan caused a drop in the price of bitcóin, as the internet cuts affect the activity of the ‘miners’.
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