WASHINGTON, Jan 12 — The United States yesterday called on Moscow to comply “promptly” with Kazakhstan’s request to pull Russian troops out of the country, after Washington questioned the deployment following rare unrest there.
State Department spokesman Ned Price said that the United States welcomed a return to calm in the Central Asian nation after dozens died and President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev issued shoot-to-kill orders.
“We also welcome President Tokayev’s announcement that the CSTO (Collective Security Treaty Organisation) collective peacekeeping forces have completed their mission,” Price told reporters.
“Until the CSTO peacekeeping forces are withdrawn, we’ll continue to call upon all Collective Security Treaty Organisation collective peacekeeping forces to respect international human rights and to uphold their commitment to promptly depart Kazakhstan as the government of Kazakhstan has requested,” he said.
Tokayev yesterday announced that “a phased withdrawal” of troops from the Moscow-led CSTO would begin in two days and take no more than 10 days.
But Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said the troops would depart only when the situation was “fully stabilised.”
Secretary of State Antony Blinken angered Moscow by publicly warning last week that Russia — which is at loggerheads with the West after amassing troops at Ukraine’s border — would try to entrench its influence.
“Once Russians are in your house, it’s sometimes very difficult to get them to leave,” Blinken said.
Tokayev, backed by Russia, described the unrest as a coup attempt and called in the CSTO due to purported foreign influence.
The narrative has been doubted by outside rights experts who believe protests were prompted largely by concern over mounting fuel costs.
In an unusual comments, Tokayev yesterday criticised his predecessor and mentor, Nursultan Nazarbayev, saying that his rule had created a “layer of wealthy people” at the expense of the masses. — AFP
