The protests that rocked Kazakhstan in recent weeks and the harsh government repression that followed have left more than 200 dead on the ground.
The bodies of 225 people killed in the riots last week were handed over to morgues across Kazakhstan, including 19 members of the security forces, the Kazakh attorney general revealed on Saturday.
Kazakhstan: towards Almaty, the rebel city. “Here the keys to the coup”
by our correspondent Fabio Tonacci
Protests broke out at the beginning of January in several cities of the country against the increase in the price of fuel and in some cities such as Almaty they became violent, with groups of hundreds of people attacking the buildings of the institutions. President Tokayev asked for help from Russia, which sent a military contingent.
The fear of the Kazakhs in the streets of Almaty wounded by the revolt
by our correspondent Fabio Tonacci
Now the Kremlin troops have returned to Russia. They were part of a contingent sent as peacekeepers by the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a Russian-led alliance of six former Soviet states. The CSTO had approved the dispatch of over 2,000 soldiers on January 5 at the request of the Kazakh president, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. The Russian Defense Ministry has reported all its troop-carrying aircraft have returned. It is unclear whether troops from other CSTO countries remain in Kazakhstan.
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