MOSCOW, January 6. /TASS/. The collective peacekeeping forces of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) have been dispatched to Kazakhstan, the advance units of the Russian contingent have already started implementing their tasks, the CSTO’s Secretariat told journalists on Thursday.

"In accordance with the decision of the CSTO’s Council of Collective Security made on January 6, 2022, the collective peacekeeping forces of the Collective Security Treaty Organization were sent to the Republic of Kazakhstan for a limited time period in order to stabilize and normalize the situation," the Secretariat said.

It noted that the advance units of the Russian contingent "have already started to implement their tasks."

According to the CSTO, the peacekeeping contingent includes the units of the armed forces of Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. "The main tasks of the collective peacekeeping forces of the CSTO will be the protection of important state and military facilities, the assistance to the law enforcement of the Republic of Kazakhstan in stabilizing the situation and returning it to the legal framework," the CSTO stressed.

Protest rallies against high fuel prices erupted on January 2 in Zhanaozen and Aktau in the Mangystau Region in southwestern Kazakhstan. Two days later, the protests engulfed Almaty in the country’s southeast and other cities where the protesters clashed with the police. Casualties were reported, the state of emergency was declared in the country. The CSTO Collective Security Council made the decision to send peacekeepers to Kazakhstan in order to stabilize the situation.