ASTANA, January 5. /TASS/. Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said the riots that flared up in the country in January 2022 were overseen by "revolution specialists."

"The instigators of the unrest, under the supervision of the revolution specialists, took advantage of the government’s decision to raise fuel prices and provoked mass demonstrations," Tokayev said in an interview with the Turkistan newspaper.

"Panic was then spread among citizens, officials and, surprisingly, among a significant part of the security forces, who abandoned their posts, leaving behind classified documents and weapons. A number of senior officials of the National Security Committee and the Interior Ministry failed the test of professionalism and loyalty to the motherland," the Kazakh leader added.

Riots flared up in Kazakhstan in early January 2022. Protesters attacked police and army officers. President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said it was an attempted coup and asked assistance from the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a Russia-led post-Soviet security bloc. The situation in Kazakhstan was stabilized by January 7 and the emergency regime was lifted across the country on January 19. According to official statistics, 238 people were killed and more than 4,500 were hurt as a result of riots.