NUR-SULTAN (AFP) -- Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said Monday his country had defeated an attempted coup d’etat during historic violence last week, and insisted that Russian-led troops called in to help quell the unrest would go home “soon”.
During a video conference of leaders from several ex-Soviet countries in a military alliance that sent in the troops, Tokayev’s Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin confirmed they would leave as soon as their mission ended.
The Central Asian country is reeling in the wake of the worst violence in its recent history, but life in Kazakhstan’s largest city Almaty appeared to be returning to normal Monday, with internet coverage restored as the nation observed a day of mourning for dozens killed in the clashes.
Tokayev told the video conference that “armed militants” had used the backdrop of protests to try to seize power.
“The main goal was obvious: the undermining of the constitutional order, the destruction of government institutions and the seizure of power. It was an attempted coup d’etat,” Tokayev said.
The Moscow-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) has deployed just over 2,000 troops and 250 pieces of military hardware, the Kazakh leader said, vowing that the detachment soon would leave the country.
Putin told Monday’s meeting that “a contingent of CSTO peacekeeping forces has been sent to Kazakhstan -- and I want to emphasize this -- for a limited time period.”
He said measures taken by the CSTO showed that its members would not allow “so-called color revolutions” to break out in Russia’s backyard.
Large protests, Putin added, were “used by destructive forces from outside and inside the country”.
Kazakhstan’s government has accused “armed bandits” and terrorists of being behind the unrest, which began with protests over a fuel price hike.
The government said Monday that foreign media reports had created “the false impression that the Kazakhstan government has been targeting peaceful protesters”.
Tokayev said in the meeting that his country’s security personnel “have never fired and will never fire on peaceful demonstrators”.
He wrote on Twitter later Monday that he had a “productive” phone conversation with European Council President Charles Michel, during which he dismissed claims force was used against unarmed protesters and said Kazakhstan will “continue to strengthen (its) partnership with (the) EU.”