BAKU, Azerbaijan, Jan. 6
Trend:
A peacekeeping company from the 103rd Airborne Brigade of the Special Operations Forces of the Armed Forces of Belarus left for Kazakhstan on Jan. 6, Belarusian Defense Minister, Lieutenant General Viktor Khrenin said, Trend reports referring to TASS.
“According to the decision of the CSTO Collective Security Council to fulfill the international and allied obligations, the Republic of Belarus sends its military contingent to assist in resolving the crisis situation in the Republic of Kazakhstan, which can lead to the violation of the constitutional order, loss of sovereignty and independence,” the defense minister said.
“I made a decision and it was approved by the President of the Republic of Belarus, to send a trained peacekeeping company from the 103rd Vitebsk airborne brigade of special operations forces for these purposes,” Khrenin said.
Kazakhstan's government announced late Jan. 4 that it was restoring some price caps on liquefied petroleum gas, after the rare protests reached Almaty following a sharp rise in the price of the fuel at the start of the year.
Many Kazakhs have converted their cars to run on LPG, which is far cheaper than gasoline as a vehicle fuel in Kazakhstan because of price caps. But the government argued that the low price was unsustainable and lifted the caps on Jan. 1.
After the price of the fuel spiked, big demonstrations erupted on Jan. 2 in certain parts of the country. Public protests are illegal in the country unless their organizers file a notice in advance. Following the development of the situation, the government declared a state of emergency all over the country.