ALMATY —
Kazakhstan said Saturday
its former security chief had been arrested for suspected treason during days
of unrest, as
Russia hit back at US criticism of its deployment of troops to
the crisis-hit country.
اضافة اعلان
News of the detention of
Karim Masimov, a
former prime minister and longtime ally of Kazakhstan's ex-leader Nursultan
Nazarbayev, comes amid speculation of a power struggle in the ex-Soviet Central
Asian nation.
The domestic intelligence agency, the
National Security Committee (KNB), announced that Masimov had been detained on
Thursday on suspicion of high treason.
President
Kassym-Jomart Tokayev sacked
Masimov earlier this week after protests over rising fuel prices erupted into
widespread violence, with dozens killed and government buildings in the largest
city Almaty stormed and set ablaze.
Tokayev told Russian President Vladimir
Putin in a "lengthy" phone call that the situation in the country was
stabilizing, the Kremlin said Saturday, and thanked the Moscow-led
Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) for sending troops to help deal with the
unrest.
The CSTO has been dispatching several
thousand troops to Kazakhstan, including Russian paratroopers, who have been
securing strategic sites.
Tokayev says the deployment will be
temporary, but US Secretary of State
Antony Blinken warned on Friday that
Kazakhstan may have trouble getting them out.
"I think one lesson in recent history
is that once Russians are in your house, it's sometimes very difficult to get
them to leave," Blinken told reporters.
Russia slams 'boorish' US
The Russian foreign ministry slammed his
comments as a "boorish" attempt "to make a funny joke today
about the tragic events in Kazakhstan".
"When Americans are in your house, it
can be difficult to stay alive, not being robbed or raped," it alleged.
Tensions between
Moscow and the West are at
post-Cold War highs over fears of a Russian invasion of Ukraine, with talks
between Russia and the US to take place in Geneva on Monday.
Authorities in Kazakhstan said Friday that
the situation was largely under control, but Tokayev issued a shoot-to-kill
order and rejected any negotiations with protesters.
An AFP correspondent in Almaty said the city
was quiet but tense on Saturday, with security forces firing warning shots at
anyone approaching a central square.
Masimov, 56, twice served as Nazarbayev's
prime minister and had been head of the KNB since 2016.
He was fired at the height of the unrest on
Wednesday, when Tokayev also took over from Nazarbayev as head of the powerful
security council.
Nazarbayev's spokesman
Aidos Ukibay on
Saturday denied rumors the ex-president had left the country and said he was
urging Kazakhs to "rally around the president".
Denouncing those spreading "knowingly
false and speculative information," he said the ex-leader was in the
capital Nur-Sultan and in "direct contact" with Tokayev.
In a hardline address to the nation on
Friday, Tokayev said 20,000 "armed bandits" had attacked Almaty and authorized
his forces to shoot to kill without warning.
The initial cause of the protests was a
spike in fuel prices but a government move to lower the prices and the sacking
of the cabinet failed to stop demonstrations continuing.
More than 4,000 detained
The violence erupted when police fired tear
gas and stun grenades at thousands protesting in Almaty late on Tuesday.
The next day protesters stormed government
buildings including the city administration headquarters and presidential
residence, setting them ablaze, and a nationwide state of emergency was declared.
The interior ministry said 26 "armed
criminals" had been killed in the unrest.
It said 18 security officers had been killed
and more than 740 wounded.
More than 4,000 people have been detained,
including some foreigners, the ministry says.
The full picture of the chaos has often been
unclear, with widespread disruptions to communications including days-long
internet shutdowns.
Flights into the country have been
repeatedly cancelled and Almaty's airport said it would remain closed to
civilian planes until at least Monday.
In Almaty, few people were out on the
streets on Saturday.
The military continued to guard the square
adjacent to the burnt-out mayor's office, firing warning shots whenever
passersby were slow to heed instructions to stay away.
Pensioner Leonid Kiselyev, 68, said his car
had been hit by gunfire at around 8:30 am as he drove past, showing a bullet
that had pierced the boot.
"Yesterday it was calm so I drove
here," said a shaken Kiselyev, standing in a long queue at a petrol
station.
Israel's foreign ministry said a 22-year-old
Israeli citizen who had been living in Kazakhstan for several years was killed
by gunfire on Friday night.
Much of the public anger appeared directed
at Nazarbayev, who is 81 and had ruled Kazakhstan since 1989 before handing
over power.
Many protesters shouted "Old Man
Out!" in reference to Nazarbayev, and a statue of him was torn down in the
southern city of Taldykorgan.
Critics have accused him and his family of
staying in control behind the scenes and accumulating vast wealth at the
expense of ordinary citizens.
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