MOSCOW, January 19 - RIA Novosti. All the peacekeepers, military equipment and weapons of the CSTO, who performed tasks in Kazakhstan, have returned home, the Russian Defense Ministry reported.
"All peacekeepers, military equipment and weapons of the contingent of the Collective Peacekeeping Forces of the CSTO, who performed tasks to protect socially significant objects in the Republic of Kazakhstan, have returned home. Today, the last four aircraft of the military transport aviation of the Russian Aerospace Forces landed at the Chkalovsky airfield near Moscow," the report says.
It is noted that servicemen and equipment of the peacekeeping contingent command headed by Colonel-General Andrei Serdyukov returned home on planes. Earlier, the peacekeeping contingents of Armenia, Belarus, Tajikistan returned home by planes of the Russian military transport aviation, and the peacekeepers from Kyrgyzstan returned home, marching as part of a column with regular equipment and weapons.
In total, during the period from January 6 to January 19, 212 flights were made by military transport aircraft of the Russian Aerospace Forces to transfer the peacekeeping contingent and return home. More than 20 flights of military transport aircraft were made to export Russian and foreign citizens from the Republic of Kazakhstan and transported over 2.2 thousand people.
Mass protests in Kazakhstan began in the first days of 2022 - residents of the cities of Zhanaozen and Aktau in the west of the country opposed a twofold increase in prices for liquefied gas. Later, the protests spread to other cities, including Alma-Ata, the old capital and the largest city of the republic: looting began there, militants attacked state institutions, took weapons. In response, the authorities imposed a state of emergency across the country until January 19 and launched a counter-terrorism operation. According to the UN, about 1 thousand people were injured during the protests in Kazakhstan. According to the Prosecutor General's Office of the country, 4,578 people were injured as a result of the riots, 225 people were killed, including 19 security officers.
On the morning of January 5, President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev dismissed the government and headed the Security Council. At the first meeting of the Security Council under his leadership, Tokayev described the situation in Kazakhstan as undermining the integrity of the state and said that he had asked the CSTO for help "in overcoming the terrorist threat." The CSTO Collective Security Council has decided to send collective peacekeeping forces to Kazakhstan to normalize the situation in the country.
Later, on January 7, Tokayev said that terrorists, including those who arrived from abroad, continue to resist, and promised to destroy those who do not lay down their arms. In addition, the President noted that all the demands of citizens expressed in peaceful forms were heard. The successful completion of the CSTO mission was announced on January 13. On Wednesday, the Ministry of Defense of Kazakhstan announced that there are no foreign military in the republic anymore.
