MOSCOW, January 11. /TASS/. Russia is not engaged in conversations about a possible coup attempt in Uzbekistan following the failed insurrection in Kazakhstan, which was mentioned as a potential risk by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Tuesday.
"It is more like a topic for a conversation between Minsk and Tashkent, in this regard, we aren’t involved in such conversations," he said in response to a question.
Lukashenko said at an extraordinary session of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) Collective Security Council on January 10 that if no lessons were learned from the recent events in Kazakhstan, similar developments might take place again, first and foremost, in Uzbekistan. According to the Belarusian president, the information that he has makes it clear that terrorists have already set their sights on Uzbekistan.
Protests erupted in various Kazakh cities on January 2, escalating into mass riots that involved attacks on police officers, service members and government buildings in many cities of the country, primarily in Almaty. Thousands of people were injured, and the number of casualties is unknown. The CSTO sent peacekeepers to the Central Asian country at President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev’s request. Law and order, the Kazakh authorities affirm, was generally restored to all of the country’s regions.