CSTO Peacekeepers Handing Over Strategic Objects in Kazakhstan as Riots Cease

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The peacekeeping forces of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) have begun handing over protected facilities to the law enforcement agencies of Kazakhstan, the Russian Defence Ministry said on Thursday.

"In accordance with the plan developed by the command of the collective peacekeeping forces of the CSTO and the Ministry of Defence of Kazakhstan, the transfer of socially significant objects guarded by peacekeepers to the law enforcement agencies of the country has begun", the ministry said in a statement.

A view shows a burning police car during a protest against LPG cost rise following the Kazakh authorities' decision to lift price caps on liquefied petroleum gas in Almaty, Kazakhstan January 5, 2022.

© REUTERS / PAVEL MIKHEYEV

The units of the CSTO peacekeeping forces in Kazakhstan also started to prepare equipment for returning to their permanent deployment points, the statement added.

The peacekeepers were deployed to the Central Asian country after protests, prompted by a two-fold rise in gas prices, escalated into violent riots earlier this month. President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev declared a nationwide state of emergency and requested assistance from Kazakhstan's allies in CSTO. He said that the protests had been hijacked by "terrorist elements" seeking to topple the government.