Kazakhstan’s President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev declared a nationwide state of emergency on Wednesday as thousands of anti-government protesters clashed with police and stormed government buildings in the oil-rich Central Asian nation for the third consecutive day.
Angry demonstrators, some of whom were armed with rubber truncheons, sticks, and shields, set fire to a presidential residence and the mayor’s office in the country’s largest city, Almaty,
Police engaged in pitched battles with the protesters, using tear gas, stun grenades, and rubber bullets to try to disperse the crowds, but were largely unsuccessful. Kazakhstan’s Interior Ministry said eight police and National Guard troops have been killed and 317 people wounded during the unprecedented unrest.
Toqaev said that he has appealed to the CSTO, a security bloc comprising Russia, Kazakhstan, Armenia and three other ex-Soviet states, to assist his government in responding to what he called a “terrorist threat.”
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian, whose country is the current holder of the CSTO’s rotating presidency, spoke with Toqaev by phone and announced shortly after midnight that he will also hold “consultations” with the leaders of CSTO members.
In a statement issued about two hours later, Pashinian said they have decided to dispatch “collective peacekeeping forces” to Kazakhstan for the purpose of “stabilizing and normalizing the situation in that country.”
He said that the unrest erupted as a result of unspecified “foreign intervention” and put Kazakhstan’s national security and sovereignty at serious risk.
Pashinian did not specify the number and composition of CSTO troops that will be deployed in Kazakhstan. Nor did he say whether Armenian soldiers will also join the contingent.
Russia did not immediately comment on the deployment.