US Has No Grounds to Counsel CSTO on What to Do in Kazakhstan: Russian Embassy
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The United States has no grounds to counsel the peacekeeping contingent of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) on how to restore order and observe human rights in Kazakhstan, the Russian Embassy in the United States said in a Twitter post on Tuesday.
"Unlike the US troops, occupying territories of Syria and Kosovo in Serbia, the peacekeeping forces of the CSTO carry out the mission to ensure security of the critical infrastructure in upon the request of its authorities," the embassy said, TASS reported.
According to Russian diplomats, Washington "deliberately forgets that pillars of stability and security in the post-Soviet area and in many countries of the Balkans, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Latin America were greatly undermined due to the systematic interference of the US in the domestic affairs of sovereign states."
Protests erupted in several Kazakh cities on January 2, escalating into mass riots with government buildings getting ransacked in several cities a few days later. The ensuing violence left scores of people injured, with fatalities also being reported.
Subsequently, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev turned to the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) requesting assistance from the Russia-led bloc. As a result, peacekeepers have already been deployed to Kazakhstan. Law and order, Kazakh authorities affirm, was restored to all of the country’s regions by the morning of January 7.
