Putin claims victory in defending Kazakhstan from revolt

Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed victory on Monday in defending Kazakhstan from what he described as a foreign-backed terrorist uprising, and promised leaders of other ex-Soviet states that a Moscow-led alliance would protect them too.

Kazakhstan’s biggest city Almaty returned to near-normal on Monday after nearly a week of unrest, by far the worst violence in the 30-year independent history of what had been the most stable former Soviet state in Central Asia.

Cleaners were removing debris from streets still littered with burnt-out cars. Most shops reopened, public transport and regular traffic returned, and the internet was switched back on for several hours in the city, for the first time since last Wednesday.

The square near the mayor’s office, burnt out during the uprising, was firmly held by the security forces and closed to the public. Police searched cars at checkpoints.

Putin sent paratroopers last week to protect strategic facilities after anti-government protesters ransacked and torched public buildings. Dozens of people are believed to have been killed in clashes between security forces and demonstrators in cities across the country.

Russia’s swift deployment demonstrated the Kremlin’s readiness to use force to safeguard its influence in the ex-Soviet Union, at a time when Moscow is also in a standoff with the West over thousands of troops massed near Ukraine. Putin told a virtual summit of the CSTO military alliance of ex-Soviet states that the body had managed to “prevent the undermining of the foundations of the state, the complete degradation of the internal situation in Kazakhstan, and block terrorists, criminals, looters and other criminal elements.”

“Of course, we understand the events in Kazakhstan are not the first and far from the last attempt to interfere in the internal affairs of our states from the outside,” he said. “The measures taken by the CSTO have clearly shown we will not allow the situation to be rocked at home.”

Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev told the summit his country had weathered “an attempted coup d’etat”.

“Under the guise of spontaneous protests, a wave of unrest broke out,” he said. “It became clear that the main goal was to undermine the constitutional order and to seize power.”