Moscow. January 6th. INTERFAX - The situation in the cities of Kazakhstan is destabilized not by peaceful protesters, but by militants with experience of military operations in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan, Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Defense Dmitry Sablin said.
"The forces that are smashing the cities of Kazakhstan are not peaceful protesters at all. These are fighters with the experience of Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan behind them. Kazakhstan has massively repatriated its "igilovites" (ISIS is a terrorist organization banned in the Russian Federation-IF) from Syria as part of Operation Zhusan, Bitter wormwood. Nothing is known about the success of the rehabilitation of terrorists," Sablin told Interfax on Thursday.
He noted that "there is information that terrorist reinforcements from Afghanistan are also operating on the territory of our former Union Republic."
"At one time, the Americans brought ISIS fighters and other terrorist groups to Afghanistan from Syria to use for their own purposes," Sablin explained.
According to him, "the decision to use the CSTO forces to stabilize the situation in Kazakhstan shows the readiness of Russia and its allies to actively act to ensure their security and their interests."
The situation in Kazakhstan worsened on January 2, when rallies against a sharp increase in prices for liquefied gas began in Zhanaozen (a city in the Mangystau region, in the west of the country). Then they escalated into mass protests across the country with economic and political demands. On January 4 and 5, protesters clashed with security forces in Almaty. There are dead and injured. On the morning of January 5, the President of Kazakhstan dismissed the government. A state of emergency has been introduced in the country.
On Wednesday, the President of Kazakhstan said that he appealed to the leaders of the CSTO countries for help in overcoming the terrorist threat in the country.
