Kazakhstan's President Kassym-Shomart Tokayev has ordered the security forces to open fire without warning.

He announced this in a televised address on Friday in which he said the "anti-terrorist operation" in the country was ongoing.

The riots of the past few days had come from armed and well-prepared "bandits and terrorists".

These must be "destroyed", which will happen quickly, said Tokayev.

The imposition of the state of emergency has already shown results, the country is returning to constitutional order.

The Kazakh Interior Ministry said all public buildings in the country are under control of the security forces again.

In Almaty, the largest city in the country, according to reports from the city, gunfire could still be heard on Friday night.

Reinhard Veser

Editor in politics.

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In Kazakhstan on January 2nd, peaceful protests against a sharp increase in fuel prices began, which spread to the whole country within a few days.

In Almaty, rioters stormed public buildings on Tuesday and Wednesday and partially set them on fire.

To combat the protests, Tokayev has asked the Russian-led military alliance ODKB for help.

Now he thanked the Russian President Vladimir Putin for the fact that he “responded operationally and, most importantly, with friendly warmth to my request”.

Russian soldiers arrived in Kazakhstan on Thursday to guard objects belonging to the security forces and the infrastructure.

The Chinese government welcomed the Russian intervention on Friday: "China supports all efforts to help the authorities in Kazakhstan to end the chaos as soon as possible," said a foreign ministry spokesman.

China is firmly against "foreign forces that intentionally create social unrest and incite violence".

In his speech, Tokayev attacked civil rights activists and “so-called free media”.

They had fueled the events and even cheered them on: "All these irresponsible demagogues are accomplices in this tragedy." They are also being cracked down on.

As a consequence of the events of the past few days, Tokayev announced that the security forces would be reinforced and better equipped. In addition, it must be found out "why the state slept through preparing the terrorists underground". In Almaty alone, 20,000 terrorists attacked. The fighters were supported by specialists for "ideological diversion" with fake news. Tokayev said nothing about who these forces are supposed to be from a “single point of command” controlled by domestic and foreign forces. He gave no information about which countries they come from, nor what political orientation they represent.

Coming to terms with the failures of the security forces could be part of a power struggle within the Kazakh elite. In the early days of the unrest, Tokayev ousted former President Nursultan Nazarbayev from the chairmanship of the National Security Council, replaced the head of the secret service and dismissed the government. Nazarbayev ruled Kazakhstan in the last years of the Soviet Union, and then, after gaining independence, was President for 28 years until 2019. After handing over the office to the Tokayev chosen by him, he remained at the head of the Security Council.

Even before the unrest began, there had been rumors of growing tensions between Tokayev and Nazarbayev.

It was generally assumed that Nazarbayev was still the real center of power.

During a joint trip to Russia by Nazarbayev and Tokayev at the end of December, only the former president had a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

There has been no sign of Nazarbayev's life since the unrest began.

His whereabouts are unknown.

The dismissed head of the secret service and the previous head of government are considered loyal followers of Nazarbayev.