An extraordinary meeting of the Council of Defense Ministers of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) will be held via videoconference on January 13. The participants will discuss a peacekeeping operation in Kazakhstan. CSTO spokesman Vladimir Zaynetdinov told TASS on Wednesday.
"On January 13, an extraordinary meeting of the Council of Defense Ministers of the Collective Security Treaty Organization will be held via video conference. In the course of the meeting, the heads of defense ministries of CSTO member states will discuss a peacekeeping operation in the Republic of Kazakhstan," he said.
According to Zainetdinov, Colonel-General Anatoly Sidorov, Chief of the CSTO United Staff, and Takhir Khairuloyev, Deputy Secretary-General of the CSTO, will also take part in the meeting.
On January 2, protests took place in a number of Kazakhstani cities, which after a few days escalated into mass riots and pogroms. They were accompanied by attacks on police, military and authorities in many cities of the country, first of all in Almaty. Thousands of people were injured, the exact death toll is unknown. After an appeal by President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, CSTO countries sent peacekeepers to the republic. On January 5, a state of emergency was declared in the republic. According to the authorities, constitutional order has been restored in all regions.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation
Based on materials from TASS