MOSCOW, January 11. /TASS/. Assistance to Kazakhstan from the Collective Security Treaty Organization will reduce anti-Russian sentiment in some countries that border Russia, Nikolay Silayev, a director of a research center at Moscow State Institute of International Relations, said on Tuesday.
"There were real signs of anti-Russian policies by some representatives of the elites," said Silayev, director of the institute’s Laboratory for the Analysis of International Processes. "The new situation is changing the picture."
"It makes clear who will come to the aid in a critical situation," he went on to say at a news conference to present the institute’s annual analytical report titled "International Threats 2022. Taking over the initiative."
"It wouldn’t be very reasonable to spit into a well when it’s unclear if you’ll need it to get water," he said.
Silayev said CSTO’s interference was efficient, and it will produce a stabilizing effect on some Kazakhstan’s neighbors, which are in similar or more difficult demographic conditions.
Protests erupted in several Kazakh cities on January 2, escalating into mass riots with buildings getting ransacked. The unrest was accompanied by attacks on police officers, military servicemen and government offices in many cities, primarily in Almaty. Thousands of people were injured, while the precise number of fatalities hasn’t yet been reported. Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev requested assistance from the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organization and the bloc deployed peacekeepers to Kazakhstan. Law and order were restored to all of the country’s regions, the government said.