MOSCOW, January 7. /TASS/. The bulk of the Russian peacekeeping forces of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) is ready to take off to Kazakhstan from several airfields across Russia, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement on Friday.
"Military transport aviation carries on with the deployment of the bulk of the Russian contingent of the CSTO peacekeeping forces to Kazakhstan from airfields in the regions of Moscow, Ivanov and Ulyanovsk," according to the statement.
"Russia’s detached airborne troops from the CSTO peacekeeping contingent are currently on alert waiting to be boarded at the Chkalovsk, Ivanovo-Severny and Ulyanovsk-Vostochny airports," the statement reads.
The Russian Defense Ministry also stated that Russia’s CSTO peacekeepers, who had been already sent to Kazakhstan, assumed their duties providing for the further deployment of the peacekeeping contingent.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova stated on Thursday that peacekeeping forces of the Collective Security Treaty Organization were sent to Kazakhstan at the request of the republic's authorities, and this decision was made collectively.
A state of emergency has been declared all across Kazakhstan over mass protests that erupted in the cities of Zhanaozen and Aktau in the Mangistau region in the country’s southwest on January 2 where residents protested against fuel price hikes.
Two days later, riots erupted in Almaty (in the country’s southeast) where police used stun grenades to disperse crowds and also in other cities, in particular, in Atyrau and Aktobe (in the west), Uralsk (in the northwest), Taraz, Shymkent and Kyzylorda (in the south), Karaganda (in the northeast) and even in the capital of Nur-Sultan.
On January 5, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev dismissed the government. Its members continue discharging their duties until a new Cabinet is approved.