MOSCOW, January 5. /TASS/. The Russian Foreign Ministry recommends that Russians refrain from visiting crowded places in Kazakhstan amid ongoing protests in the country, the ministry said on Wednesday.
"In connection with the difficult situation in Kazakhstan, we recommend that Russian citizens be careful, refrain from visiting crowded places, stay in hotels/residences, follow the messages of foreign missions and the Russian Foreign Ministry," the statement said.
Earlier, the Russian diplomatic service reported that it did not have information about the Russian citizens injured in Kazakhstan.
Tokayev's appeal came against the backdrop of ongoing protests in the country over the past four days, which escalated into riots. On January 2, crowds took to the streets in the cities of Zhanaozen and Aktau in the Mangystau Region, in southwestern Kazakhstan, protesting against high fuel prices. Two days later, the protests engulfed Almaty, in the country’s southeast, where the police used flashbangs to disperse the crowd, as well as other cities, including Atyrau, Aktobe (in the west), Uralsk (in the northwest), Taraz, Shymkent, Kyzylorda (in the south), Karaganda (in the northeast) and even Kazakhstan’s capital Nur-Sultan. The president imposed a two-week state of emergency in the Mangystau Region and in the Almaty Region, as well as the republic’s largest city of Almaty and the capital Nur-Sultan. On January 5, the head of the state also accepted the government’s resignation. Its members will continue to perform their tasks until a new cabinet is formed.