NUR-SULTAN, January 7. /TASS/. Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev on Friday said the government is pressing on with a counterterrorism operation against militants.
"The counterterrorism operation is going on," he said in a televised address to the nation. "The militants haven’t laid down their weapons and continue to commit crimes or prepare to do so."
"The fight against them must be brought to an end," he went on to say. "Those who won’t surrender will be destroyed."
There’s a shortage of riot control weapons and special service fighters, he said.
"We are dealing with these issues as a matter of urgency," the president said.
Kazakh president says government failed to prevent terrorist attacks from happening.
"It’s critically important to understand why the government missed the clandestine preparations for the terrorist attacks and the training of undercover militant sells," he said in an address to the nation.
Tokayev said about 20,000 militants were involved in Almaty riots.
"Their actions have shown the existence of a precise plan for attacks on military, administrative and social offices in practically all regions, a seamless coordination, strong combat capabilities and savage brutality," he said.
The president said the attacks involved specialists trained in manipulating the public sentiment by spreading fake news and they apparently answered to a central command office.
The country’s National Security Committee and Prosecutor General’s Office are investigating the situation, he said.
Kazakh president says government won’t negotiate with terrorists. "There have been calls abroad for the sides to negotiate for a peaceful solution of the problems," he said. "How silly. How can talks be held with criminals and murderers?"
"We had to deal with armed and well-prepared bandits," he went on to say.
The bandits, he said, are both local and foreign and will be destroyed in short order.
The actions of the Kazakh authorities to prevent unrest are not aimed against freedoms and human rights, Tokayev said.
"In my speech on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of [the country’s] independence I said that law and order are the main guarantee of the well-being of our country. This does not mean an attack on civil liberties and human rights," he said.
Tokayev stressed that the riots in the country show that "non-observance of laws and permissiveness" entail violation of human rights and freedoms.
"The tragic events in our country highlight the problems of democracy and human rights in a new way. Democracy is not permissiveness, much less incitement, including in the blogosphere, to unlawful actions," he said.
"On the contrary, as the tragedy of Almaty and other cities of Kazakhstan showed, it is non-observance of laws, permissiveness, anarchy that led to the violation of human rights," he concluded.
CSTO peacekeeping forces
CSTO peacekeeping forces arrive in Kazakhstan for short period of time, Tokayev said.
"Proceeding from the main provisions of the CSTO charter, Kazakhstan appealed to the heads of the member states with a request to introduce joint peacekeeping forces to assist in establishing constitutional order. This contingent has arrived in our country for a short period of time," he said.
Tokayev noted that Kazakhstan needs the CSTO forces to "fulfill the function of cover and support."
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.