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Putin, Lukashenko, Pashinyan call for not letting illegal armed groups get into Kazakhstan

The leaders agreed that it is important that "the Kazakh people could resolve their domestic problems themselves"

MINSK, January 7. /TASS/. The situation in Kazakhstan was the focus of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko’s telephone calls with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. The three leaders stressed the importance of efforts not to let illegal armed groups get to that country, the press service of the Belarusian president said on Friday.

"Touching on the activities of the CSTO (Collective Security Treaty Organization - TASS) peacekeeping forces in Kazakhstan, the leaders stressed that one of the key tasks is not to let illegal armed groups get into Kazakhstan from outside," it said.

The leaders agreed that it is important that "the Kazakh people could resolve their domestic problems themselves," the press service said, adding that Lukashenko also discussed with Putin and Pahinyan current issues of the international agenda and bilateral relations.

Protests erupted in several Kazakh cities on January 2 to grow into mass riots with attacks on government buildings in many cities several days later. Thousands have been injured and fatalities have also been reported. Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev asked help from the Collective Security Treaty Organization, or CSTO, a post-Soviet security bloc. CSTO peacekeepers have already been deployed to Kazakhstan. According to the Kazakh authorities, law and order had been restored in all of the country’s regions by the morning on January 7. However, the situation in Almaty is still very tense.