MOSCOW, January 13. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on Thursday criticized the OSCE, saying the group failed to react properly to the recent unrest in Kazakhstan.
"Apparently the OSCE isn’t worth a mention any more after what happened in Kazakhstan and an outrageous indifference about the situation from the OSCE," she said at a news conference. "We are wondering if the organization has an administrative office and what about the leadership?"
"Were they all on New Year holidays or were they back in Vienna already?" the spokeswoman went on to say.
Zakharova also wondered how closely the OSCE followed events in some other countries, such as Ukraine.
"Where are you, the staff of the OSCE office?" she said. "What’s going on with you? Do you read news and follow the situation in Kazakhstan, other countries, Ukraine?"
"What’s your take on what’s happening there with human rights, freedom of speech and physical safety of reporters?" she went on to say.
Protests erupted in several Kazakh cities on January 2, escalating into mass riots with ransacked buildings and attacks on police, military servicemen and government offices in many cities, mostly in Almaty. Thousands of people were injured, while the exact number of fatalities hasn’t been reported. Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev requested assistance from the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organization and the bloc deployed peacekeepers to Kazakhstan. The country declared a state of emergency from January 5. Law and order were generally restored to all of the country’s regions, Kazakh authorities said.