Kazakh president steps up purge of security agency after mass unrest
Skip to main content
  • Home
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
    • Book Review
    • Brands
    • Earth
    • Explorer
    • Fact Check
    • Family
    • Food
    • Game Reviews
    • Good Practices
    • Habitat
    • Humour
    • In Focus
    • Luxury
    • Mode
    • Panorama
    • Pursuit
    • Wealth
    • Wellbeing
    • Wheels
  • Epaper
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • Videos
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • COVID-19
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Monday
February 06, 2023

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Home
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
    • Book Review
    • Brands
    • Earth
    • Explorer
    • Fact Check
    • Family
    • Food
    • Game Reviews
    • Good Practices
    • Habitat
    • Humour
    • In Focus
    • Luxury
    • Mode
    • Panorama
    • Pursuit
    • Wealth
    • Wellbeing
    • Wheels
  • Epaper
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • Videos
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • COVID-19
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
  • বাংলা
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 06, 2023
Kazakh president steps up purge of security agency after mass unrest

World+Biz

Reuters
10 January, 2022, 09:45 am
Last modified: 10 January, 2022, 09:48 am

Related News

  • ICMAB elects Abdur Rahman as president
  • BRB Cable Industries Limited receives 'President's Industrial Development Award-2020'
  • Country to get new president before 24 April: Law minister
  • Nurul Qayyum Khan re-elected as BICDA president for 7th term
  • Kazakh President Tokayev wins re-election with 81.3% of vote

Kazakh president steps up purge of security agency after mass unrest

Russian and state media reported 164 people were killed during the clashes, citing a government social media post

Reuters
10 January, 2022, 09:45 am
Last modified: 10 January, 2022, 09:48 am
A Kazakh law enforcement officer stands guard near a burnt truck while checking vehicles in a street following mass protests triggered by fuel price increase in Almaty, Kazakhstan January 8, 2022. Photo: Reuters
A Kazakh law enforcement officer stands guard near a burnt truck while checking vehicles in a street following mass protests triggered by fuel price increase in Almaty, Kazakhstan January 8, 2022. Photo: Reuters

Kazakhstan's president fired two more top security officials on Sunday after the worst unrest in three decades of post-Soviet independence and authorities said the situation was stabilising, with Russian-led troops guarding key facilities.

The sacked officials were deputies to former intelligence chief Karim Massimov, who was arrested on suspicion of treason after violent protests swept the oil- and uranium-producing Central Asian republic that borders Russia and China.

Thousands of people have been detained and public buildings torched during mass anti-government protests in the past week. President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev issued shoot-to-kill orders to end unrest he has blamed on bandits and terrorists.

Russian and state media reported 164 people were killed during the clashes, citing a government social media post. But health and police authorities did not confirm the figure, and the social media post was then deleted.

The internet has been restricted and telecoms patchy, making it difficult to check figures and confirm statements.

No single group has emerged to speak for the protesters. Demonstrations against a fuel price rise began a week ago before erupting into a wider protest against Tokayev's government and the man he replaced as veteran president, 81-year-old Nursultan Nazarbayev.

At Tokayev's invitation, a Russia-led alliance of ex-Soviet states - the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) - sent troops to restore order, an intervention that comes at a time of high tension in Russia-US relations ahead of this week on the Ukraine crisis.

Tokayev's spokesman said on Sunday he thought the forces would not be in Kazakhstan for long, and possibly no more than a week or even less.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and other leaders of CSTO countries will hold a video conference on Monday to discuss the crisis in Kazakhstan, the Kremlin said.

The violence has spurred speculation of a rift in the ruling elite, with Tokayev fighting to consolidate his authority after firing key officials and removing Nazarbayev from a powerful role as head of the Security Council.

The president's website announced the sackings of Marat Osipov and Daulet Ergozhin as deputy heads of the National Security Committee. It gave no explanation in a terse statement late on Sunday.

Their arrested former boss, Massimov, a two-time prime minister, was seen as close to Nazarbayev. Authorities have not disclosed any details of the allegations against him. He and his lawyer could not be reached for comment.

In a statement meant to quash talk of a rift, Nazarbayev's spokesman said Nazarbayev had been in the capital Nur-Sultan throughout the crisis and chose himself to give up his security council post to Tokayev to help ease the crisis.

"(He) and the head of state have always been 'on the same side of the barricades'... In these difficult days they have demonstrated the monolithic nature of state power for all of us," the statement said, calling for people to rally around Tokayev.

Tokayev is likely to name new government members when he addresses parliament on Tuesday, his spokesman said.

He awarded prizes for bravery to 16 police and army officers killed in the violence.

IMAGE SETBACK

"The situation has been stabilised in all regions of the country," the presidential office said, adding law enforcement agencies had seized back control of administrative buildings.

"The counter-terrorist operation ... will be continued until the complete elimination of the terrorists," Deputy Defence Minister Sultan Gamaletdinov said.

The violence has dealt a blow to Kazakhstan's image as a tightly controlled and stable country, which it has used to attract hundreds of billions of dollars of Western investment in its oil and minerals industries.

Police said 6,044 people had been arrested in connection with the unrest.

Russian paratrooper commander Andrey Serdyukov said the CSTO force had finished deploying to Kazakhstan and would remain there until the situation stabilised completely.

"A number of strategic facilities have been transferred under the protection of the united peacekeeping contingent of the CSTO member states," the presidential office said.

Serdyukov said the troops were guarding important military, state and socially-important sites in the city of Almaty and nearby areas. He did not identify the facilities.

The deployments signal resolute Kremlin backing for the Kazakh authorities in a region Moscow sees as vital to its security along its southern flank.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Washington was seeking answers from Kazakhstan as to why it needed to call in Russian-led forces to resolve domestic unrest. He also denounced the government's shoot-to-kill order.

CASH MACHINES GUTTED

In Almaty, the biggest city where much of the violence was concentrated, normal life appeared to be returning on Sunday.

Security forces have set up checkpoints around the city. Smashed windows, gutted cash machines and torched buildings bore witness to the destruction.

The main Republic Square remained sealed off.

Reuters saw two military vehicles with mounted machine guns driving towards the square. Most of dozens of civilian and police cars torched during the unrest had been removed.

Supermarket chain Magnum said 15 of its 68 stores in Almaty had been looted.

A shopping mall's staff told Reuters that video cameras showed looters attacking an ATM, changing into stolen clothes at the stores and walking out wearing two or three coats.

Yerkin Zhumabekov, a mall manager, said: "They arrived in cars with no number plates at night, they destroyed everything. They took everything they could, shoes, clothes, cosmetics."

Top News

Kazakhstan / President

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • A man walks past by a collapsed building after an earthquake in Malatya, Turkey February 6, 2023. Depo Photos via REUTERS
    Over 600 dead, many trapped under rubble as 7.9 magnitude quake rocks Turkey and Syria
  • LC issues lead to severe shortage of surgical equipment
    LC issues lead to severe shortage of surgical equipment
  • A stinking open garbage bin in the Gazipur City Corporation area causes problems to commuters. Lack of proper measures, including designated spots, manpower and equipment for dumping garbage, has made the city corporation area an open trash bin. Photo: TBS
    Waste collection fees likely to go up for Dhaka north residents

MOST VIEWED

  • Photo: Collected
    Colombian judge says he used ChatGPT in ruling
  • Photo: Collected
    'Before our eyes, the windows of a building exploded,' says Turkey earthquake survivor
  • A rescuer works at the site of a damaged building, following an earthquake, in rebel-held Azaz, Syria February 6, 2023. REUTERS/Mahmoud Hassano
    Earthquake aftershocks to continue for days, possibly months: Expert
  • Illustration: Collected
    Russia discussed nuclear arms treaty with US ambassador - report
  • Indian billionaire Gautam Adani speaks during an inauguration ceremony after the Adani Group completed the purchase of Haifa Port earlier in January 2023, in Haifa port, Israel January 31, 2023. REUTERS/Amir Cohen/File Photo
    Adani sell-off extends; India's opposition lawmakers launch protests
  • People shop for cooking oil made from oil palms at a supermarket in Jakarta, Indonesia, March 27, 2022. REUTERS/Willy Kurniawan/Files
    Indonesia to suspend some palm oil export permits - senior official

Related News

  • ICMAB elects Abdur Rahman as president
  • BRB Cable Industries Limited receives 'President's Industrial Development Award-2020'
  • Country to get new president before 24 April: Law minister
  • Nurul Qayyum Khan re-elected as BICDA president for 7th term
  • Kazakh President Tokayev wins re-election with 81.3% of vote

Features

Photo: Collected

Get your partner a lovely present this Valentine's Day

5h | Brands
Pottery Wheel Craft Kit: A creative outlet for little hands

Pottery Wheel Craft Kit: A creative outlet for little hands

4h | Brands
Say it with Colours

Say it with Colours

1d | Mode
Photo: Courtesy

From 'Made in Bangladesh' to 'Designed in Bangladesh'

1d | Panorama

More Videos from TBS

Stage plays are going on in the digital age

Stage plays are going on in the digital age

3h | TBS Stories
Why does all the versatile roles go to Jisan?

Why does all the versatile roles go to Jisan?

3h | TBS Entertainment
ICB to withdraw Padma Bank Investment as return

ICB to withdraw Padma Bank Investment as return

20h | TBS Insight
Kiara Advani & Sidharth Malhotra's Wedding Update

Kiara Advani & Sidharth Malhotra's Wedding Update

20h | TBS Entertainment

Most Read

1
Leepu realised his love for cars from a young age and for the last 40 years, he has transformed, designed and customised hundreds of cars. Photo: Collected
Panorama

'I am not crazy about cars anymore': Nizamuddin Awlia Leepu

2
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) logo is seen outside the headquarters building in Washington, U.S., September 4, 2018. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas/File Photo
Economy

IMF approves $4.7 billion loan for Bangladesh, calls for ambitious reforms

3
Belal Ahmed new acting chairman of SIBL
Banking

Belal Ahmed new acting chairman of SIBL

4
Fund cut as Dhaka's fast-track transit projects on slow spending lane
Infrastructure

Fund cut as Dhaka's fast-track transit projects on slow spending lane

5
Photo: Collected
Startups

ShopUp secures $30m debt financing to boost expansion, supply chain

6
Photo: Courtesy
Panorama

From 'Made in Bangladesh' to 'Designed in Bangladesh'

EMAIL US
contact@tbsnews.net
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2023
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - oped.tbs@gmail.com

For advertisement- sales@tbsnews.net