Troops from a Russia-aligned group who flew to Kazakhstan last week following serious unrest in the Central Asian nation will start withdrawing in two days after completing its mission, the president announced on Tuesday.
Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev requested help from the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a military alliance of six former Soviet states, for international support on Jan. 6 after nationwide protests erupted into violence.
“The primary mission of the CSTO peacekeeping forces has been successfully completed,” Tokayev said during a session broadcast live on state television.
“The gradual withdrawal of the CSTO peacekeeping contingent will commence in two days,” the president went on to say. “The process of withdrawing the contingent will take no longer than 10 days.”
The mostly Russian troops were deployed to Kazakhstan as the country faced the worst public unrest since the former Soviet nation gained independence around three decades ago.
Nationwide protests, which started on Jan. 2 in the city of Zhanaozen in Kazakhstan’s Mangistau region, began in response to an increase in the price cap for propane gas to 120 tenge (27 cents), from 2021’s price of 60 tenge (14 cents).
On Tuesday, Tokayev appointed a new prime minister, Alikhan Smailov, with a view to “developing a government framework for action for 2022 within three weeks.”
Kazakhstan’s government resigned last week in what was seen as one of several concessions aimed at mollifying the protesters, along with a 180-day cap on fuel prices and the ouster of Nursultan Nazarbayev, the country’s former longtime leader, from his influential post as head of the National Security Council.