The president of Kazakhstan assures Putin that he has retaken control of the country

Riot police arrested a protester in Almaty this Saturday.Vasily Krestyaninov (AP)

The president of Kazakhstan, Kasim-Yomart Tokáyev, declared this Saturday to his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, that his country "is on the way to stabilization" after six days of protests and a wave of repression that left dozens dead. Both leaders held a telephone conversation in which the Kazakh again thanked the Russian for sending troops after the outbreak of the revolt and stressed that "there are still hot spots for terrorist attacks." However, this is not the only one of his concerns: the Government has announced the arrest of the former head of espionage for high treason.

"The presidents exchanged their views on the measures taken to restore order in Kazakhstan," the Kremlin reported in a statement. Moscow affirms that it has been Tokayev's initiative to propose a summit by videoconference between the leaders of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), the military alliance headed by Russia and which has so far deployed 2,500 soldiers in the Central Asian republic. "Vladimir Putin supported this proposal and it was agreed to be in permanent contact," Moscow stressed. "The fight against terrorism will continue with the utmost determination," Tokayev told Putin in turn, according to the press service of the Kazakh presidency.

The concept of "terrorism" used by the Government of the former Soviet Republic is diffuse due to the high numbers of detainees. The Kazakh and Russian authorities have pointed these days to the presence of "gangs from the Middle East and the Middle East" in the demonstrations that led to the burning of several government buildings and clashes with the police and the army. The "counterterrorism operation" started on Thursday morning has so far resulted in the arrest of 4,404 people. On Friday, in a speech to the nation, Tokayev said that in Almaty alone, the country's former capital and most populous city, "20,000 bandits and terrorists" had appeared. The Interior Ministry estimates the deaths of activists at 26 and those of members of the security forces at 18. On the other hand,Israel has been the only country to announce the death of one of its citizens in the protests, a 22-year-old man on his way to work in Almaty.

At the same time, activity seems to gradually return to normal in a country rich in hydrocarbons. Almaty airport, one of the main focuses of the protests, will remain closed until at least Monday, although the city's City Council (two million inhabitants) has announced the prompt reopening of the stores. At the same time, gas plants have reopened and oil refineries are already working as before the start of the crisis, according to the Energy Ministry. The Russian Foreign Ministry has also confirmed the return to normality. “The situation has gradually changed for the better since the events of January 5 and 6. Vital economic services are being normalized, ”the agency said in a statement.

The rapid spread of the protests has shaken the foundations of power in Kazakhstan. The demonstrations began with complaints in the Mangystau region (west) about the rising cost of liquefied petroleum gas, which is used there in three out of four cars. They soon spread throughout the country and turned into a revolt against the Government. Faced with this spiral, Tokáyev, 68, dismissed the prime minister and his entire Cabinet on Wednesday, appointed a new acting Executive and assumed control of the Security Council (the body that coordinates all the security forces), which until then he led his predecessor and "father of the country" Nursultán Nazarbayev, who ruled for almost three decades.

One of the most affected by this week's

has been the head of the Security Committee, the body responsible for the espionage services. The Government announced this Saturday the arrest of Karim Masimov on suspicion of high treason to the State. The senior official was dismissed on Wednesday without any official explanation, the same day that Tokayev appealed to the CSTO (made up of Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan itself) to receive from the alliance reinforcements intended not to disperse the protesters, according to the body itself, but to protect "key points" in the country.

Karim Masimov was part of the close circle of former President Nazarbayev, with whom he had been prime minister twice before taking charge of espionage, in 2016. Masimov, 56, has been replaced by Yermek Sagimbayev, former head of security for the Tokáyev.

And in the midst of these palace intrigues, it has been confirmed that Samat Abish, Nazarbayev's nephew, will continue as the first deputy head of the Security Committee.

Maximov and Putin, in 2007 on the outskirts of Moscow.DMITRY ASTAKHOV (EFE)

Nazarbayev, 81, led the republic from the fall of the Soviet Union until 2019, when he gave the baton to his dolphin Tokayev before an election that the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) declared irregular by the veto of independent candidates. Nazarbayev has not been seen in public since December 28, when he flew with Tokayev to Saint Petersburg on two different planes.

Nazarbayev's spokesman assured the Russian Interfax agency on Saturday that "Elbasy (his honorary title of 'guide of the nation') is in the capital of Kazakhstan."

"Elbasy holds numerous consultative meetings and is in direct contact with the president," said Aidos Ukibay, adding that Nazarbayev "calls on all [citizens] to unite around the president of Kazakhstan to overcome current challenges and ensure the integrity of our country".

The close link between the former head of espionage Karim Masimov and Nazarbayev is highlighted by the

, specialized in Central Asia. Its editor David Trilling told EL PAÍS that Moscow's request for help could make Tokayev more dependent on the Kremlin, and that his speeches to the nation, including the one in which he warned that his troops will shoot protesters without prior notice, have had a lot of symbolic: the president has addressed the citizens in Russian after having signed on December 30, three days before the start of the protests, a law that imposes mandatory labeling in Kazakh in the service sector and cancels the mandatory to do it in the Slavic language. On December 23, Putin warned that Kazakhstan "is a Russian-speaking country in every sense of the word," and his Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov,He denounced weeks before that the Kazakh elites have veered towards "an anti-Russian sentiment" under the influence of the

of the president Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

This multi-ethnic, populous neighbor of China has so far been one of Russia's main allies, both in the CSTO and economically in the Eurasian Union. An analysis of this crisis published by the Carnegie Moscow think tank highlights that the Kazakh system "has had enormous failures that have led millions of people to discontent over the distribution of their wealth", which "has led to an end to the era of Nursultan Nazarbayev ”, but Russia emerged the winner from the crisis. “The Kremlin solves several problems at the same time. First, it will preserve a friendly regime, which is one of the fundamental interests of Russian foreign policy. And without losing a soldier, the better. Second, it will elevate the authority of the CSTO, which was shaken by the recent events in Kyrgyzstan and Nagorno Karabakh. And third,an effective and rapid intervention of the troops will strengthen the position of Russia in the new generation of the Kazakh bureaucracy, on which Tokayev will depend more and more and that by educating himself in the West and Asia does not consider Russia a priority partner ”.

Repatriation of Russian tourists

Russia announced on Saturday the successful repatriation of 25 tourists who had been trapped in the chaos in which Kazakhstan has plunged.

The US consulate in Almaty has authorized the departure of all non-essential employees and their families from the city.

The Spanish Embassy in Nur-Sultán, for its part, maintains the recommendation to avoid “crowded places”.

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