MOSCOW, January 7. /TASS/. A task force has been created in the city of Baikonur to maintain public order and safe operation of companies, Roscosmos told TASS on Friday.

"The focus area for the task force: smooth and safe work of the city’s services and companies and the maintenance of public order and security," the state corporation’s press service said.

The task force includes representatives of the city hall, heads of law enforcement agencies, local companies and the cosmodrome, Roscosmos said.

Roscosmos Director General Dmitry Rogozin said earlier that the situation in the Baikonur City and the cosmodrome was quiet.

Protests erupted in several Kazakh cities on January 2, later growing into mass riots and attacks on government offices. Thousands of casualties have been reported, including fatalities. The Kazakh president asked the Collective Security Treaty Organization, a military alliance of former Soviet republics, for help. First peacekeeping units have already started fulfilling their tasks in Kazakhstan. The government said order has generally been restored in all of the country’s regions by the morning of January 7, while the situation is the most difficult in Almaty.