BAKU, Azerbaijan, Jan. 7
Trend:
Constitutional order has been mainly restored in all regions of Kazakhstan, the country’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev stated at a meeting of counterterrorism headquarters, Trend reports via Kazinform.
"The anti-terror operation has begun. The law enforcement structures are working hard. Constitutional order has been mainly restored in all regions of the country,” Tokayev said. “Local authorities are controlling the situation, but terrorists continue to use weapons and damage the property of citizens. Therefore, counter-terrorism actions should be continued until the complete destruction of the militants.”
During the meeting, the acting ministers of internal affairs and defense, as well as the chairman of the national security committee also delivered reports.
"According to the heads of the security agencies, divisions of the united peacekeeping contingent of CSTO (Collective Security Treaty Organization) began to arrive in Kazakhstan to assist in restoring order,” the president’s press service noted. “This contingent arrived for a limited period of time to carry out mainly the functions of covering and protecting strategic objects.”
The president of Kazakhstan also issued a number of decrees to further stabilize the situation in the country.
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.