Planes with Russian peacekeepers from the CSTO forces flew out of Kazakhstan, the Defense Ministry said.
“Units of Russian peacekeepers from the Collective Peacekeeping Forces of the CSTO in Kazakhstan loaded military equipment into the Il-76 and An-124 military aircraft and flew out of Alma-Ata,” the message says.
Fifteen Il-76s and three An-124s will deliver the personnel and equipment of airborne units to airfields in the Ivanovo and Moscow regions. Then the peacekeepers will return to the points of permanent deployment.
Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev turned to the CSTO for help “in overcoming the terrorist threat” on January 5 after riots broke out in the country amid protests against a doubling of prices for liquefied gas. According to the UN, about a thousand people were injured during the protests in Kazakhstan. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the republic, 17 Kazakh security officials were killed, more than 1.3 thousand were injured.
The CSTO Collective Security Council decided to send collective peacekeeping forces to Kazakhstan to normalize the situation in the country. Military personnel from Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan took part in the operation. They were entrusted with the protection of strategically important objects.
On Thursday, January 13, the successful completion of the CSTO mission was announced; on Friday morning, peacekeepers from Armenia and Tajikistan returned to their homeland.