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Russia won’t interfere in Kazakhstan’s probe of its domestic unrest, vows Kremlin

The authorities have already launched an investigation, Dmitry Peskov pointed out

MOSCOW, January 10. /TASS/. Kazakh investigators will investigate the violent events that engulfed the country, and Russia will not interfere, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday.

"If you carefully listened to [Kazakh] President Tokayev’s address [to an online summit of the Collective Security Treaty Organization], he said that investigators would identify and make it possible to name these forces (that were behind the developments in the country - TASS). It’s not up to Russia to name them. It is the domestic concern of Kazakhstan, a sovereign country," Peskov stressed, when asked if Russia could specify the forces behind the recent developments in Kazakhstan. The Kremlin spokesman emphasized that "Kazakhstan has already launched an investigation involving Kazakh experts and will naturally conduct it itself."

Peskov denied the allegation that the Kremlin was unaware of the forces that had become the source of the aggression against Kazakhstan that the CSTO responded to. "You misunderstood me. I wanted to explain that it’s not our prerogative, it’s not our business to clearly classify those threats in this case. It is Kazakhstan’s domestic affair and it is the Kazakh people who should classify the threats and announce conclusions based on the investigation that is underway," the press secretary noted.

The Kremlin spokesman stressed that "the presidents and the Armenian prime minister spoke about specific threats" at Monday’s extraordinary meeting of the Collective Security Council. "They did not speak about abstract things," the Kremlin spokesman said, confirming that the summit’s participants had not specified the forces behind the developments in Kazakhstan.