Kazakhstan, Astana, March 29 / Trend, D. Mukhtarov /
In the struggle with the opposition, Kazakhstan's law enforcement agencies should not lose sight of more dangerous opponents in the face of radical groups who are ready to commit terrorist acts, Kazakh political scientist Dosym Satpayev believes.
"Last year's terror acts in the west of the country indicate that in this country there are forces willing to launch terror acts in large cities such as Almaty and Astana, which will cause the greatest public upset," Satpayev said in an exclusive interview with Trend.
A number of terror attacks were prevented in Almaty, the Prosecutor General's Office of Kazakhstan said on Wednesday. They were organised by 37-year-old Alexander Pavlov, who was chief bodyguard to the former head of the BTA, banker Mukhtar Ablyazov. One of leaders of the unregistered Alga party Muratbek Ketebaev, who is Mukhtar Ablyazov's closest confidant and a permanent resident abroad acted in collusion with Pavlov.
This month it became apparent they instructed their accomplices to commit a series of explosions in public places on March 24, including park areas and office buildings in the city of Almaty.
In particular, Pavlov personally gave instructions to the perpetrator to leave an explosive device in the family park behind the Sary Arka Cinema in the Auezovsk district. Further devices were planned at pedestrian crossings along the Al-Farabi Avenue.
"Information on the prevention of terror acts must be interpreted with caution, since we received it only from one side. It is difficult to assess how this attack was real with a probability of 50 to 50. For example, it is difficult for me to rank Mukhtar Ketebaev among such people as Osama bin Laden," Satpayev said.
He said: "A certain analogy with the situation in Russia is considered here, when there was a confrontation between Putin and Berezovsky. Then the terrorist attacks shook the neighbouring country and the disgraced oligarch shot a documentary that law enforcement agencies were behind all the attacks.
"However another point is important here: Now law enforcement agencies should be actively engaged in monitoring the situation relating to groups of more radical people who operate in Kazakhstan who pose a real threat. That is, in the struggle with the opposition, our security forces should not lose sight of more dangerous opponents," Satpayev said.