When the Kazakh President Kassym-Shomart Tokayev gave a dramatic televised address for the second time within a few hours on Thursday night, he spoke Russian: He spoke of "terrorists" who raged in the country and fought fierce battles with the armed forces, of attacks on the citizens, from the disintegration of the whole state.
Because of this situation, he asked the heads of state of the Collective Security Treaty Organization to help Kazakhstan to overcome the terrorist threat.
In plain language this meant: He asked for military support.
Friedrich Schmidt
Political correspondent for Russia and the CIS in Moscow.
Follow I follow
Reinhard Veser
Editor in politics.
Follow I follow
A few hours later, the Russian-led military alliance officially announced that Russian, Belarusian, Armenian, Kyrgyz and Tajik "peacekeepers" were on their way to Kazakhstan. The organization, which is officially a defense alliance against attacks from outside, is participating in the suppression of the uprising in Kazakhstan. This is a first - and not only because it is the first time that the Kremlin is officially participating in the violent end to protests in a neighboring country. In the twentieth year of its existence, the organization, which is abbreviated to ODKB in Russian, will be active for the first time due to the military assistance obligation in its contract. Suddenly the organization is at the center of an international conflict,which until now had been ridiculed as a paper tiger and which seemed to have no practical function.
The ODKB troops are officially in Kazakhstan to avert an external threat.
The international connection is necessary in order to be able to declare the alliance case.
Tokayev claimed in his speech that the terrorists had been trained abroad, and the Russian Foreign Ministry also saw outside forces behind the unrest sparked on January 2 by the rise in fuel prices: “We see recent events as one our friendly country as an externally staged attempt to violently undermine the security and integrity of a state using prepared, organized and armed formations ”, it said in a choice of words that is familiar from other crises.
Rioters stormed the airport
A few hours before Tokayev's request for help, the Russian leadership had, of course, spoken quite differently: President Vladimir Putin's spokesman said that they were confident that the Kazakh friends could solve their “internal problems” themselves; it is important that there is now no outside interference. In the meantime, rioters had stormed numerous public buildings, especially in Almaty, as well as the airport. Videos were posted on the Internet showing how Kazakh security forces went over to the protesters. What actually tipped the balance for the turnaround is of course in the dark. And both the ODKB and Russian politicians emphasized on Thursday that the foreign troops should only serve to secure objectswhile the "restoration of order" is the responsibility of the Kazakh forces.