Forty Military Aircraft Bring Russian Peacekeepers Home From Kazakhstan - Defense Ministry

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 18th January, 2022) Forty aircraft of the Russian Aerospace Forces have brought home from Kazakhstan Russian peacekeepers from the Collective Security Treaty Organization's forces over the past day, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.

"Forty aircraft of the military transport aviation of the Russian Aerospace Forces delivered Russian peacekeepers from the CSTO Collective Peacekeeping Forces from the Republic of Kazakhstan to military airfields in the Moscow and Ulyanovsk regions over the past day," the ministry said.

Mass protests in Kazakhstan began in the early 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, protests spread to other cities, including Almaty, the republic's largest city: looting began there, militants attacked state institutions and took weapons.

In response, the authorities declared a state of emergency across the country until January 19 and launched a counter-terrorism operation.

In the morning of January 5, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev dismissed the government and led the country's Security Council. At the first meeting of the Security Council under his leadership, Tokayev described the situation in Kazakhstan as one undermining the integrity of the state and said he had asked the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) for assistance "in overcoming the terrorist threat."

The CSTO Collective Security Council decided to deploy the Collective Peacekeeping Forces to Kazakhstan to normalize the situation there. On January 13, it was announced that the CSTO mission was successfully completed. The peacekeepers began to return home from Kazakhstan.