MOSCOW, January 12. /TASS/. The risks of an aggravation of internal political crises like the one that occurred in Kazakhstan in the first days of 2022 exist in other countries in the post-Soviet space, the research director of the Valdai Discussion Club, Fyodor Lukyanov, told TASS on Wednesday.

"It is nakedly clear that other crises, like the one that has occurred in Kazakhstan, may happen in other post-Soviet countries. All of these are living through a period of asserting their statehood. This is a very painful process. There have already been several outbreaks of unrest since 2018, starting from Armenia. Kazakhstan was another manifestation, and obviously not last one. In the countries where something like this happened already, but the problems have remained unresolved, the risk of more crisis-like developments remains," Lukyanov said.

The president of the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute of World Economy and International Relations (IMEMO), Alexander Dynkin, warns that the risks of crises in the post-Soviet space and in other countries around the world in 2022 are worse than in the previous years.

"Polarization of incomes around the world, soaring food prices and the well-expected slowdown of economic growth - all these factors certainly fuel socio-political tensions in different countries and, in the first place, in the developing and raw materials exporting countries. Pre-requisites for an aggravation of internal political crises in the post-Soviet space and in other countries in 2022 are far greater than, say in 2019. To me this is quite obvious."

The board chairman of the Foundation for the Development of and Support for the Valdai Discussion Club, Andrey Bystritsky, says that due to snowballing socio-political and economic problems many countries around the world are prone to internal political unrest. In this sense, Kazakhstan is not an exception. In this risk group he sees not only post-Soviet states but the Western countries, too.

"The coronavirus pandemic, global financial turmoil, numerous conflicts and social inequality - all these factors can result in unexpected aggravations of crises this year," Bystritsky warned. "And if one bears in mind the existence of aggressively-minded forces around the world, it will become still clearer that such a turn of events should not be ruled out by any means."

Protests erupted in several Kazakh cities on January 2, escalating into mass riots with government buildings getting ransacked in several cities a few days later. The ensuing violence left scores of people injured, with fatalities also being reported. Subsequently, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev turned to the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) requesting assistance from the Russia-led bloc. As a result, peacekeepers were deployed to Kazakhstan. Law and order, Kazakh authorities affirm, have been restored to all of the country’s regions by now.