Putin’s Troops Go In as Kazakh Leader Orders Protesters Shot
Kazakhstan’s president said he’s ordered security forces to shoot protesters “without warning”.
(Bloomberg) -- Kazakhstan’s president said he’s ordered security forces to shoot protesters “without warning” as he declared victory with Russia’s help in crushing unrest sweeping the central Asian nation.
“Those who don’t surrender will be destroyed,” President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said in a televised address to the nation Friday. He rejected all calls for negotiations with the protesters, calling them “criminals, murderers,” and said operations are continuing against them.
The second intervention in as many years to shore up the embattled leader of a neighboring state represents another decisive display of power by Russian President Vladimir Putin as he prepares for a crucial showdown with the West next week over NATO expansion. Chinese President Xi Jinping backed the crackdown against what he called an attempted “color revolution” in Kazakhstan in a message to Tokayev, while the U.S. and European leaders appealed for a peaceful resolution of the crisis.
Putin spoke numerous times by phone with Tokayev on Thursday and Friday about the situation in Kazakhstan and joint efforts to restore order there, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, the Interfax news service reported.
Russian paratroopers joined operations to retake Almaty’s airport, according to the Defense Ministry in Moscow, which said 75 aircraft flew its forces to Kazakhstan after Tokayev appealed for aid. Russia placed an officer who led military operations in Syria and Ukraine in charge of the deployment in Kazakhstan by troops from the Collective Security Treaty Organization.
Dozens of people have already been killed and hundreds wounded in Tokayev’s response to the most serious challenge facing Kazakhstan’s leadership since independence in 1991. The death toll seemed likely to climb with videos on social media showing troops firing automatic weapons in Almaty, the largest city, where the president claimed 20,000 “bandits” had attacked government buildings.
“We call for an end to violence -- and very clearly there should be no violence against citizens,” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told reporters in Berlin. European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said the bloc was ready to “support de-escalation” in Kazakhstan.
Yields on Kazakh dollar bonds due in 2045 fell for a second day after surging more than 30 basis points on Wednesday, driving the biggest loss for the security since March 2020.
Tokayev said the CSTO troops would remain in Kazakhstan for only a short time after he took the unprecedented step of asking the bloc to intervene to help put down the disturbances that he blamed on unspecified outside forces. The alliance dominated by Russia also includes Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday said it wasn’t clear why Tokayev sought outside forces. He called for human rights to be respected by all sides, but warned that there could be longer-term consequences to having Russian-led troops in the country.
“One lesson in recent history is that once Russians are in your house, sometimes it’s very difficult to get them to leave,” Blinken said.
The intervention in Kazakhstan comes after Putin backed Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko’s crackdown on popular protests, which drew sanctions from the U.S. and its allies following disputed 2020 elections.
The Kremlin will hold high-stakes security talks beginning Sunday with the U.S. and its North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies amid a Russian military build-up near the border with Ukraine that U.S. intelligence says may be preparation for an invasion. Russia denies this, while insisting on binding guarantees that NATO will withdraw forces to positions they held in 1997 and rule out future membership for Ukraine and other ex-Soviet states.
The Kazakh protests sparked initially by anger at fuel-price rises quickly spiraled into nationwide anti-government demonstrations amid discontent over falling living standards and widespread corruption. Thousands took to the streets and seized government buildings in the country of 19 million that’s as large as western Europe and rich in oil and minerals.
At least 26 protesters were killed during security operations, the Interior Ministry reported Friday. Earlier, it said 18 security officers had died and 748 were injured in clashes with protesters. More than 3,800 were detained, Interfax reported, citing the ministry.
Prices for uranium surged amid the unrest in the world’s largest supplier of the nuclear fuel, though Kazakhstan’s top miner, Kazatomprom, said it will meet all delivery deadlines. The Sprott Physical Uranium Trust, a proxy for prices of the radioactive metal, rose as much as 2% on Friday, and was on course for its best week since mid-October.
There was no sign of disruption to oil output, the country’s biggest export.
Tokayev ordered limited restoration of internet access that was cut after he declared a state of emergency, but warned connections could be blocked again if unrest flares. He accused the Kazakh government and military of sleeping while local and foreign “terrorists” prepared attacks.
Neither the CSTO nor Tokayev’s government have indicated which outside forces they blame for the protests that appeared to have started spontaneously. Russia’s Foreign Ministry said Thursday the unrest was “an attempt inspired from outside to violently undermine the security and integrity of the state with the use of organized and trained armed units.”
The protests included calls for longtime leader Nursultan Nazarbayev to give up the reins of power. Nazarbayev, 81, turned over the presidency to Tokayev in 2019 but retained substantial influence in the country’s repressive political system. He hasn’t been seen in public since the crisis erupted.
Tokayev accepted his government’s resignation and removed several top security officials Wednesday in an attempt to appease the protesters. He also said he was taking over from Nazarbayev as head of the Security Council and pledged to stay in the capital Nur-Sultan “whatever happens.”
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