According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, on the morning of January 16, units of Russian peacekeepers from the collective peacekeeping forces of the CSTO in Kazakhstan loaded military equipment into aircraft of the military transport aviation of the Russian Aerospace Forces and flew out of Alma-Ata.
As REN TV notes, on January 14, Armenian, Belarusian and Uzbek peacekeepers have already managed to return to their homeland from Kazakhstan.
“All peacekeepers are planned to be taken out of the country by January 19,” the report says.
The withdrawal of the CSTO forces from Kazakhstan began on January 13 by order of the President of the country, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. He said that the need for the presence of a foreign contingent in Kazakhstan had disappeared after the stabilization of the internal political situation.
The country's prosecutor's office reported that more than 200 people were killed during the riots in Kazakhstan.
The entry of CSTO troops into Kazakhstan began at the request of Tokayev on January 6, after protests and riots swept the country. The reason was a sharp increase in fuel prices and numerous violations of civil rights in the republic. The dissatisfaction of the people was also caused by the cult of personality of the ex-president of the country Nursultan Nazarbayev, implanted by the authorities. Furious protesters toppled the statue of Nazarbayev from the pedestal, and Tokayev, under the pressure of public indignation, removed his predecessor from the post of head of the Security Council.
After the suppression of protests, the CSTO troops began to withdraw from Kazakhstan.
Earlier it was reported that on January 13, servicemen of the 331st Guards Airborne Strike Regiment of the 98th Guards Airborne Division returned home. During the week they participated in the protection of strategic facilities in Kazakhstan.
According to the administration of the Kostroma region, the authorities arranged a solemn meeting for the paratroopers who arrived from Kazakhstan.