Russian-led forces to leave ‘stable’ Kazakhstan after deadly alleged coup bid

Russian-led peacekeepers will start leaving Kazakhstan this week and its new government will pursue reforms to reduce the poverty and corruption that sparked nationwide protests, the president of the energy-rich Central Asian state announced.

Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said the country of 19 million was now stable after demonstrations last week turned deadly due to what he describes as a coup attempt conducted by thousands of foreign-trained "terrorists".

"Overall, the acute phase of the counter-terror operation is over. The situation is stable in all regions. Due to that, I am stating that the main mission of the CSTO peacekeeping forces has been successfully completed," he said on Tuesday, referring to the Moscow-led Collective Security Treaty Organisation.

“A gradual pull-out of the CSTO peacekeeping contingent will begin in two days . . . and will take no more than 10 days,” he told the lower house of the Kazakh parliament.

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Kazakh officials say 164 people were killed, thousands hurt and nearly 10,000 arrested when peaceful protests that began in the west of the vast country over a sharp rise in fuel prices exploded into violence in some areas, with the nation’s biggest city, Almaty, witnessing the worst bloodshed and destruction.

Power grab

Many experts on Central Asia say rallies by ordinary Kazakhs angered by poverty, graft and cronyism appear to have been used as cover by elements of the elite to launch a violent power grab amid a shadowy struggle for control.

At the height of the violence in Almaty, Mr Tokayev announced that Kazakhstan's former leader of 29 years, Nursultan Nazarbayev, would no longer be head of the country's powerful security council, and then sacked one of the ex-president's most influential allies, Karim Masimov, who was arrested on suspicion of treason.

Mr Nazarbayev (81) – who handed the presidency to Mr Tokayev in 2019 – has not been seen in public since the unrest began, and the Kremlin said on Tuesday that it did not know his whereabouts.

Mr Tokayev has not identified those who he blames for the supposed coup, but claims that in Almaty alone some 20,000 "terrorists", including militants from Afghanistan and the Middle East, sought to seize power.

In addressing the apparent absence of any trace of such a guerrilla army, Mr Tokayev said “the bandits attacked morgues at night, collecting and removing the bodies of their dead accomplices. They also removed militants’ bodies straight from the battlefield. This is the practice of international terrorists . . . It is exactly how they cover their tracks.”

However, Mr Tokayev sharply criticised the national security committee – a domestic intelligence agency formerly led by Mr Masimov – telling parliament that it had failed to respond to the coup threat and must be overhauled.

He also said that under Mr Nazarbayev “very profitable companies and a layer of people who are rich even by international standards appeared in Kazakhstan”, and they would now be expected to contribute to a new social fund.

The new government would increase many people’s salaries and public spending, while the pay of ministers, deputies and regional leaders would be frozen for five years, Mr Tokayev announced.