MOSCOW, January 19. /TASS/. The peacekeepers of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) successfully coped with the assigned tasks in Kazakhstan and no provocations against the peacekeeping personnel were allowed, CSTO Peacekeeping Contingent Commander Colonel General Andrey Serdyukov said on Wednesday.
"The peacekeeping contingent from five countries coped with the assigned tasks. The peacekeepers demonstrated their high readiness for action, professionalism and discipline. Not a single provocation was allowed against the peacekeepers," the commander said.
The peacekeeping operation on the territory of Kazakhstan is over, the general stressed. "Today, on January 19, the last units and the command of the peacekeeping forces are returning to their permanent bases. I wish the Kazakh people peace and prosperity," Serdyukov said.
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. They were accompanied by attacks on the police, military and governance bodies in many cities of the country, primarily, in Almaty. Thousands of people were injured while the exact number of those killed in the mass riots is unknown yet.
In compliance with a decision by the CSTO Collective Security Council made on January 6, 2022, the organization’s collective peacekeeping forces were sent to Kazakhstan for a limited period to stabilize and normalize the situation in the Central Asian republic after Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev turned to the Russia-led security bloc for assistance. The peacekeeping contingent comprised units of the armed forces of Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.
The Russian peacekeepers in Kazakhstan were assigned the task of protecting key strategic facilities in Almaty. On January 13, the CSTO began the gradual withdrawal of its collective peacekeeping forces from Kazakhstan. Law and order, Kazakh authorities affirm, was restored to all of the country’s regions.