ArmInfo.I forecasted possible instability in the Central Asian region starting from 2019, and in July last year, based on an analysis of a number of factors and events, it became clear that serious shocks would very soon affect Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, former Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Artsakh Arman Melikyan expressed a similar opinion to ArmInfo.
"And as we see, to our great regret, the leadership of Armenia turned out to be unprepared for this situation. As a result, the decision to send peacekeepers to Kazakhstan was made in Yerevan without any possibility of abandoning this prospect. However, by and large, as a result of actions of the government of our country in the light of the settlement of the situation in Kazakhstan, the international image of Armenia is unlikely to be damaged," he said.
In this light, the diplomat reminded of the already started withdrawal of the CSTO peacekeeping contingent from Kazakhstan, noting that the military must return to their countries no later than January 19. " I cannot say to what extent the national interests of Armenia were taken into account when making the decision to send our military to Kazakhstan. But the fact that the country's leadership simply had to think first of all about the negative consequences Armenia's decision to block the entry of CSTO peacekeepers to Kazakhstan, is an indisputable fact," he remarked.
On January 14, the press service of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation reported that the units of Armenia, Belarus, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan from the CSTO forces began loading standard equipment and personnel onto aircraft to return from Kazakhstan to their homeland. In total, there are 100 servicemen of the Armenian Armed Forces in Kazakhstan.
At the same time, according to the diplomat's forecasts, in the long term, the already ending stay of the CSTO peacekeeping forces in Kazakhstan may well have a negative, destabilizing effect on further internal processes in this country. In this light, he noted that this factor may well serve as a stimulus for the growth of nationalist sentiments already observed in Kazakhstan. In his opinion, in the future, all this can lead to discrimination and violence against national minorities in Kazakhstan.