The Kazakh president, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, today rejected any hypothesis of mediation to put an end to the violence in the country and promised "the elimination" of what he called "the armed bandits"
accused of having instigated the violent demonstrations
.
Tokayev added that he
authorized the police to open fire "without warning"
.
"There have been calls from abroad to the parties to negotiate for a peaceful solution to the problems - said Tokayev in a televised speech to the nation -. What nonsense! How can one negotiate with criminals and murderers?".
According to the president, in fact,
the riots were caused by "20,000 bandits"
who stormed Almaty, the country's former capital and largest city.
Tokayeva then
thanked Russian President Vladimir Putin
for promptly responding to his appeal by sending troops to Kazakhstan to help quell the uprising under the Collective Security Treaty (CSTO), which includes various former Soviet republics.
Kazakhstan "is adopting a series of measures to counter terrorism and to defend stability".
China
, Foreign
Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said, "supports all its efforts to resolve the situation and strongly opposes external forces inciting violence and chaos in the region." As a "neighboring country and global strategic partner, China is willing to offer all necessary support" to help Kazakhstan "overcome recent difficulties," Wang added in the daily briefing.
"Some foreign actors are taking advantage of the situation by trying to cause unrest and instability in the country." This was stated by the spokesman for the Foreign Ministry of
Iran
Saeed Khatibzadeh, commenting on the situation in Kazakhstan which Tehran considers "an internal issue". Calling it a "friend and brother country", the Iranian official said that "stability and security are of particular importance for Kazakhstan and for this reason we hope that the process to restore peace in that country will be completed as quickly as possible".
This morning the Kazakh Ministry of the Interior reported that
"26 criminals" were killed and 18 injured
in the days of unrest.
The statement specifies that all the regions of Kazakhstan have been "liberated and placed under greater protection" with 70 checkpoints installed in the country.