Saturday, January 08, 2022
Nazarbayev denies escape
Kazakhstan’s head of state is cleaning up the secret service
The long-time ruler of Kazakhstan is said to have fled the country. His spokesman denied: Nazarbayev was still in the capital. Tokayev, the new strong man, is rebuilding the power apparatus: Confidants of his predecessor are arrested for high treason.
In Kazakhstan, the former head of government and ex-head of the domestic intelligence service, Karim Massimov, was arrested against the backdrop of violent protests. The 56-year-old is suspected of treason, said the National Security Committee (KNB). The former Soviet republic has been rocking unprecedented clashes between demonstrators and security forces for days. Meanwhile, long-term head of state Nursultan Nazarbayev expressed himself for the first time and called for loyalty to the leadership. Meanwhile, his successor conferred with Russia’s head of state Vladimir Putin.
Protests, which were initially directed against rising gas prices, expanded into protests critical of the government across the country. Head of state Kassym-Jomart Tokayev gave the security forces an order to shoot demonstrators on Friday and ruled out negotiations with them.
The situation in the Central Asian country remained tense on Saturday. In Kazakhstan’s largest city, Almaty, warning shots were occasionally fired by security forces to prevent people from approaching the city’s central square, an AFP reporter reported.
Massimov was dismissed as head of the KNB a few days ago after demonstrators stormed government buildings in Almaty. On Thursday, the domestic intelligence service launched a preliminary investigation into treason, according to its own information. Massimov and other suspects have been arrested. The former KNB boss is considered a close ally of the authoritarian ex-President Nazarbayev.
Nazarbayev calls for Tokayev’s support
Nazarbayev made public statements on Saturday for the first time since the riots began. He called on the population to stand behind Head of State Tokayev “in order to cope with the current challenges and to ensure the integrity of the country,” as his spokesman Aidos Ukibai announced on Twitter. The spokesman rejected rumors that the 81-year-old had left the country. Nazarbayev is staying in the capital, Nursultan, and is in “direct contact” with his successor, Tokayev, he said.
Nazarbayev has not appeared in public since the protests began less than a week ago. He had chosen his successor Tokayev himself in 2019, but is said to still have control behind the scenes. The anger in Kazakhstan is also directed against Nazarbayev, who ruled the country with a hard hand from 1989 to 2019.
His successor Tokayev also dismissed the deputy secretary of the influential Security Council, Asamat Abdymomunov, as reported by the Kazakh state television. According to the presidential office, Abdymomunov had been appointed deputy secretary by Nazarbayev more than six years ago. Some experts argue that Tokayev is using the current crisis to gain more leverage. The 68-year-old also replaced the management of the secret service with his own confidante.
US Secretary of State: “Difficult to get rid of Russians”
The new ruler conferred with Russian President Vladimir Putin by telephone “about measures to restore order,” the Kremlin announced. The Kazakh President had thanked the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) and “especially” Russia for their help. The Russian-led military alliance CSTO sent “peacekeepers” to Kazakhstan on Thursday.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken therefore warned on Friday that it would now be difficult for Kazakhstan to push back Russian influence. “I think a lesson from recent history is that it is sometimes very difficult to get rid of the Russians once they are in your house,” he said. The Russian Foreign Ministry sharply criticized this statement. “US Secretary of State Antony Blinken tried to make a funny joke about the tragic events in Kazakhstan,” the ministry said on Facebook. “A rowdy attempt, but not his first either.”
According to the Kazakh government, 26 “armed criminals” have been killed and more than 1,000 other demonstrators injured in the clashes. On the part of the security forces, there were therefore 18 dead and almost 750 injured. Around 4,400 people were arrested, reported the state television. The information could not initially be confirmed by an independent party.