MOSCOW, January 11. /TASS/. A Russian military transport plane has delivered 145 Russians from the Almaty aerodrome to Moscow, Russia’s Defense Ministry reported on Tuesday.
"A military transport plane of the Russian Aerospace Force has delivered 145 Russian nationals from the Almaty aerodrome to Moscow," the ministry said in a statement.
It was earlier reported that two Russian Il-76 military transport planes departed from Almaty for Moscow, carrying 145 Russians each. As Russia’s Defense Ministry stressed, the repatriation of Russian nationals "will continue until the task is implemented in full."
Protests erupted in several Kazakh cities on January 2, escalating into mass riots with government buildings getting ransacked in several cities a few days later. The ensuing violence left thousands of people injured, with fatalities also being reported. Subsequently, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev turned to the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) requesting assistance from the Russia-led bloc. As a result, peacekeepers have already been deployed to Kazakhstan. Law and order, Kazakh authorities affirm, was restored to all of the country’s regions by the morning of January 7.
The largest riots took place in Almaty where the airport was captured. Law enforcement regained control of the city and the airport, which has not yet restarted its operation and some flights have had to be canceled.