MOSCOW, January 7. /TASS/. Peacekeepers acting with Kazakhstan’s law enforcement forces took control over the Almaty airport, Igor Konashenkov, a spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry, told reporters.
"The Almaty airport has now been taken under full control in a joint effort with Kazakhstan Republic’s law enforcement agencies," he said.
Protests erupted in several Kazakh cities on January 2, later growing into mass riots and attacks on government offices. Thousands of casualties have been reported, including fatalities. The Kazakh president asked the Collective Security Treaty Organization, a military alliance of former Soviet republics, for help. First peacekeeping units have already started fulfilling their tasks in Kazakhstan. The government said order has generally been restored in all of the country’s regions by the morning of January 7, while the situation is the most difficult in Almaty.