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CSTO Council of Defense Ministers to meet online on January 13 — spokesman

The peacekeeping operation in the Republic of Kazakhstan to be discussed during the meeting

MOSCOW, January 12./TASS/. An emergency meeting of the CSTO Council of Defense Ministers will be held online on January 13 to focus on the peacekeeping operation in Kazakhstan, CSTO Spokesperson Vladimir Zainetdinov told TASS on Wednesday.

"On January 13, an extraordinary meeting of the Council of Defense Ministers of the Collective Security Treaty Organization will be held via a conference call. At the meeting, the defense ministers of the CSTO member countries will discuss the peacekeeping operation in the Republic of Kazakhstan," he said.

According to Zainetdinov, also taking part in the meeting will be Head of the CSTO Joint Staff Colonel General Anatoly Sidorov and CSTO Deputy Secretary General Takhir Khayrulloyev.

Protests erupted in several Kazakh cities on January 2, escalating into mass riots with government buildings ransacked in several cities a few days later. The ensuing violence left scores 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.

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