Putin: Elements of force and information support of protests inherent  in "Maidan" technologies were actively used in Kazakhstan

ArmInfo.The emerging threat to Kazakhstan's statehood was caused not by spontaneous protest actions over fuel prices, but by the fact that destructive internal  and external forces took advantage of the situation.

Those people who advocated the situation on the gas market are one group and have the  same goals, while those who took up arms and attacked the state are  completely different group and have different goals. Russian  President Vladimir Putin said this during his speech at an  extraordinary session of the Collective Security Council of the  Collective Security Treaty Organization, recalling that President of  Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev asked for help from the members of  the Collective Security Treaty Organization due to the fact that his  brotherly country, which is a CSTO member, faced an unprecedented  challenge to its security, integrity and sovereignty.

"At the same time, elements of force and information support of  protests inherent in" Maidan "technologies were actively used.  Well-organized and well-controlled groups of militants were used, as  President Tokayev just said, including those who had passed -  apparently passed - training in terrorist camps abroad, and, as  Kassym-Jomart Kemelevich noted, their attack on Kazakhstan - and in  fact it is an attack on the country, on Kazakhstan - in fact was an  act of aggression. I completely agree with this. It was necessary to  react to all this without delay, and the appeal of the President of  Kazakhstan was immediately supported by all the heads of the CSTO  member states as well as by the Prime Minister of Armenia who chairs  the Collective Security Council, "Putin added.

At the same time, he called it extremely important that in the  organization, with the participation of its secretariat, it was  possible to quickly and smoothly make all the necessary decisions in  a tight time frame - and in a matter of hours - in order to prevent  undermining the foundations of the functioning of state power in  Kazakhstan, complete degradation of the internal situation, to put an  obstacle to terrorists, bandits, looters and other criminals. "Joint  steps to provide assistance to the brotherly Kazakhstani people were  agreed as quickly as possible, and the CSTO mechanism really kicked  in. A contingent of the Collective Peacekeeping Forces of the CSTO  has been sent to Kazakhstan - and I want to emphasize this - for a  limited time period, for such a period as the President of  Kazakhstan, the head of state of Kazakhstan thinks possible for its  use. After fulfilling their functions, of course, the entire  contingent will be withdrawn from the territory of Kazakhstan. We  managed to carry out the full deployment of this contingent in a  fairly short time.

We regard our joint actions as an extremely timely and absolutely, of  course, legitimate action. CSTO units are in Kazakhstan on the basis  of an official request from the leadership of the republic and in  full compliance with Article 4 of the fundamental Collective Security  Treaty of 1992. It provides that in the event of an aggression  against any of the participating States, all other states, upon its  request, will immediately provide it with the necessary support and  assistance, including military, and we are observing the aggression  of international terrorism: where did these gangs of armed people who  were trained in foreign centers and clearly having experience of  hostilities in hot spots of the planet come from?, "the Russian  leader asked.

According to Putin, the CSTO has actually shown its potential, the  ability to act quickly, decisively and effectively. He noted that  each of the allies contributed to the fulfillment of the assigned  tasks as part of the CSTO military grouping: units of all the  participating countries, without exception, have entered and are  already actively carrying out operational activities.

According to the head of the Russian Federation, this indicates that  the long-term, painstaking work carried out within the framework of  the CSTO to form an integral security system of the participating  states, including, of course, the Collective Peacekeeping Forces of  the CSTO, is yielding results. He also called it very important that  the military of our countries are trained according to common  programs, are equipped with common or compatible models of weapons,  equipment and communications.

The President of Russia also said that the peacekeeping contingent  took immediate protection of key infrastructure facilities and  ensures control over them by the Kazakh authorities, namely the  Kazakh authorities. At the same time, he stated that Kazakhstani  power and law enforcement bodies are directly involved in the fight  against terrorism, combat work, protection of civilians and perform  police functions where necessary. "That is, our servicemen replaced  them at infrastructure facilities and enabled the President of  Kazakhstan to effectively use his forces and means to restore order  in the country. As the speakers have already noted, thanks to the  measures taken by the leadership of Kazakhstan with our support, the  situation is gradually returning to normal. A number of vital  facilities, including the Almaty airport, have been completely  cleared of terrorists and bandits by the forces of Kazakhstan's  military and law enforcement agencies. I am sure that by joint  efforts in the very near future the situation in the entire country  will be finally taken under control and stabilized, and peace and  tranquility will finally return to Kazakhstani land, "the head of  Russia said.

At the same time, Putin stressed that the events in Kazakhstan are  not the first and far from the last attempt at outside interference  "in the internal affairs of our states." "The measures taken by the  CSTO have clearly shown that will not allow the scenarios of the  so-called color revolutions to be realized. And everyone knows that  through the use of Internet communications and social networks,  attempts continue to be made to involve our citizens in protest  actions, which are the forerunners and attacks of terrorists, which  was clearly and very specifically told today by the President of  Kazakhstan - this is the chronology of events that took place in  Kazakhstan. It is absolutely obvious, we have all seen it. Moreover,  the experience of recent events in Kazakhstan confirms that certain  forces try touse cyberspace and social networks in recruiting  extremists and terrorists, creating "sleeping cells" of militants,  "Putin said. The President of Russia considered it expedient to  instruct the Committee of Secretaries of the CSTO Security Councils  within the framework of specialized working groups - on information  security issues and on the fight against terrorism and extremism - to  submit proposals for jointly countering attempts at destructive  external interference in the CSTO's area of responsibility.

"The main thing is that the tragic events that our brotherly country  Kazakhstan is going through today would not take us by surprise in  the future and that we would be fully mobilized and would be ready to  repulse any provocations. I would also like to note the courage with  which the President of Kazakhstan accepted these events, took  responsibility upon himself, on his own shoulders, we will lead the  conduct of all these events, consolidated around himself the society,  law enforcement agencies, citizens of the country in order to repulse  terrorists from the outside" , - said Putin, expressing his  conviction that the leadership of Kazakhstan will do everything in  order to establish the normal work of law enforcement agencies and  the country's economy.

In conclusion, he reaffirmed Russia's intention to continue to give  top priority to strengthening relations of strategic alliance with  all CSTO member states. "And of course, I express my confidence that  the leadership and people of Kazakhstan - I want to emphasize this  once again - will cope with the current situation and will face the  serious challenges that have arisen with honor," the Russian  president summed up.

The meeting on the situation in Kazakhstan and measures to normalize  it was held by videoconference under the chairmanship of the Republic  of Armenia. Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan, President of  Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart  Tokayev, Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan Akylbek Zhaparov, President of  Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon and Secretary General of the Collective  Security Treaty Organization Stanislav Zas also attended the meeting.