MOSCOW, January 7. /TASS/. CSTO peacekeepers are helping Kazakh law enforcement agencies to maintain order in the country, Russian Defense Ministry Spokesman Igor Konashenkov told reporters.

Security has been provided for the Russian consulate general in Almaty and some other important offices, 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.