UPDATE - RT Freelance Correspondent Detained In Kazakhstan Released, Now In Hotel

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 09th January, 2022) Freelance correspondent Stanislav Obishchenko was detained in Kazakhstan but WAS later released, RT broadcaster said on Saturday.

"RT freelance correspondent Stanislav Obishchenko has been detained in Kazakhstan," RT Russian broadcaster said in a message, posted on Telegram. The channel later wrote that Obishchenko was released and that the correspondent had contacted his wife from a hotel in Almaty.

RT producer Mikhail Krasnov said earlier that it was impossible to contact the journalist.

Earlier on Saturday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that the lack of a clear reaction to the attacks on journalists during the protests in Kazakhstan and the inaction by international organizations are fraught with the gravest consequences.

People have been protesting in Kazakhstan since a twofold increase in gas prices on January 1. Despite the government's attempts to manage the situation and promises to decrease prices, peaceful protests turned into clashes with law enforcement officers in several regions of the republic, including in the city of Almaty. The government introduced an internet blackout and declared a country-wide state of emergency.

Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev asked for the Collective Security Treaty Organization's (CSTO) assistance in resolving the issue. The first contingent of the CSTO Collective Peacekeeping Forces arrived to Kazakhstan on Thursday to help bring the situation under control.