More than 4,400 people have been arrested and more than 40 killed during the anti-government unrest in Kazakhstan, according to official figures released today by state media.
The death toll appears to include members of the security forces. There are fears that the true death toll could be much higher than officially announced.
President Kasim-Yomart Tokayev has declared a day of national mourning for “the many victims of the tragic events in some parts of the country,” according to state media.
A Russian-led military alliance of former Soviet states, the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), has sent paratroopers to Kazakhstan as part of a peacekeeping force. A total of about 2,500 members of the security forces from abroad are being sent to Kazakhstan, the CSTO alliance said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, in a video conference call with Tokayev today, backed the latter's proposal for a CSTO summit in the coming days to discuss the unrest. Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko, who has been pushing for anti-government unrest in his own country, also spoke with Tokayev today.
A spokesman for veteran former Kazakh leader Nursultan Nazarbayev confirmed today that the latter was still in the country despite the unrest. “The leader of the nation is in the capital of Kazakhstan, Nursultan,” Angio Ukimbai wrote on Twitter. Earlier, it was rumored that 81-year-old Nazarbayev had left the country after his successor, President Tokayev, ousted him from his post as head of Kazakhstan's powerful Security Council. Nazarbayev is in direct contact with Tokayev, according to Ukimbai.
Source: KYPE
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