Future Timeline

1 hour ago

Staff at Kazakhstan's main airport have had to flee as nationwide anti-government demonstrations escalate.

A group of protesters entered the airport terminal in the country's biggest city, Almaty, on Wednesday. Government buildings have also been targeted.

The authorities have cut internet and phone access.

The protests began in response to fuel price rises but reflect long-standing grievances against the government.

Kazakhstan's economic capital Almaty on Thursday afternoon saw gunfire and explosions as violence continues to rock the Central Asian country.

Police forces were seen firing live rounds after surrounding a group of about 200 people, reports Russia's Sputnik news service.

Military was also deployed by Thursday afternoon, including Russian paratroopers sent in by Moscow after president Kassym-Jomart Tokayev asked the regional intergovernmental military organisation CSTO to intervene.

Military personnel regained control of the main airport, seized earlier by protesters. Thursday evening saw renewed battles in Almaty's main square, occupied alternately by troops and hundreds of protesters throughout much of the day.

Dozens of protesters were reported dead earlier in the day after dissatisfaction over gas prices on Sunday snowballed into Kazakhstan's biggest demonstrations since it declared independence from the Soviet Union.

The anger over a near-doubling of gas prices has grown to include other grievances including poor living conditions in some areas, as well as 30 years under the rule of the same party.

Kazakhstan authorities confirmed the provisional death toll.

Russian paratrooper units have begun arriving in Kazakhstan to help its president end mass protests in the Central Asian country, as security forces there said they have killed dozens of protesters overnight amid violent clashes.

The Russian troops are deploying as part of a joint force from a Russian-led military alliance of former Soviet countries, after Kazakhstan’s president appealed late Wednesday for help putting down the protests that have spread across the country. President Kassym-Jopart Tokayev made the request after a mob of protesters stormed the mayor’s office in Kazakhstan’s largest city Almaty, and overran the airport.

Small numbers of Russian paratrooper units landed at an airbase in Kazakhstan, with Russian state media showing the soldiers disembarking from transport planes and off-loading armored vehicles. The number of Russian troops was unclear, but it was estimated from several hundred to a few thousand, alongside several hundred from Belarus, Tajikistan and Armenia that were also due to arrive.

Yuli Ban wrote: ↑Wed Dec 29, 2021 9:25 pm When Russia inevitably reabsorbs Kazakhstan, you just know that'll be reversed, at least de facto so.

Yuli Ban wrote: ↑Fri Jan 07, 2022 3:15 am Dammit, I didn't mean for this to come true

MOSCOW (AP) — Dozens of protesters were killed in Kazakhstan in attacks on government buildings and at least a dozen police officers died, including one who was found beheaded, authorities said Thursday.

There were attempts to storm buildings overnight in the country’s largest city, Almaty, and “dozens of attackers were liquidated,” police spokeswoman Saltanat Azirbek said. She spoke on state news channel Khabar-24. The reported attempts to storm the buildings came after widespread unrest in the city on Wednesday, including seizure of the mayor’s building, which was set on fire.

State news channel Khabar-24 cited the city commandant’s office as saying Thursday that another 353 law enforcement officers were injured in addition to the 12 killed.

Kazakhstan is experiencing the worst street protests the country has seen since gaining independence three decades ago.

Russian paratroopers have arrived in Kazakhstan as part of a “peacekeeping” mission by a Moscow-led military alliance to help the president regain control of the country, according to Russian news agencies.

Kazakhstan’s president, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, asked for the intervention from the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) – an alliance made up of Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan – late on Wednesday and it was swiftly approved.

It comes as violent clashes continue between protesters and the police and army in Kazakhstan.

Tokayev addressed the people of Kazakhstan. Briefly about the main thing:

"I gave an order to law enforcement agencies and the army to open fire to kill without warning. There are calls abroad for the parties to negotiate a peaceful solution to the problems. What stupidity! What kind of negotiations can there be with murderers, with criminals. We had to deal with armed and trained bandits - both local and foreign. This is the case with bandits and terrorists, so they need to be destroyed, and this will be done in the near future."

Bitcoin took a hit on Thursday after the internet in Kazakhstan was shut down amid intensifying violence.

The central Asian nation in recent days has been rocked by violent clashes between protesters, police and the army. The protests began in the west of the country over the weekend, after a sharp rise in fuel crisis, and quickly spread through cities across the nation.

The internet was shut down nationwide on Wednesday. And though the intent appeared to be to disrupt the protesters’ communications, the effects of the blackout have spread further.

Kazakhstan is a power player in the bitcoin world. Last year, the nation became the world’s second-largest center for bitcoin mining after the United States, according to the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance, after China, a major hub, clamped down on crypto mining activity. As of August, Kazakhstan was hosting 18% of global bitcoin mining, according to Fortune.

wjfox wrote: ↑Wed Dec 29, 2021 9:09 pm Kazakhstan Completely Abolishes Death Penalty

Umer Jamshaid Published December 29, 2021 | 09:14 PM

Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has signed amendments on the abolition of the death penalty in the country, the president's press service said on Wednesday.

On January 2, 2021, Tokayev signed a law on ratification of the second optional protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, with the purpose of abolishing the death penalty. Kazakhstan ratified the protocol with one provision - the right to exercise the death penalty at a time of war for serious military crimes. In November, Tokayev expressed the opinion that the republic should abolish the death penalty without any reservations about the possibility of using it in the case of war crimes.

The law amends the criminal, criminal procedural and penal codes, in addition to other laws. The article concerning the death penalty as an exceptional measure of punishment is completely excluded from the criminal code.

Due to the complete abolition of the death penalty, the criminal procedure code and the law on the procedure and conditions of detention of persons in special institutions exclude the notion of "death penalty execution". Also, the law on ratification of the second optional protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights provides for the exclusion of the previously made provision concerning the use of the death penalty for particularly serious military crimes.

https://www.urdupoint.com/en/world/kaza ... 38235.html

Yuli Ban wrote: ↑Fri Jan 07, 2022 5:27 pm

Kazakhstan is a power player in the bitcoin world. Last year, the nation became the world’s second-largest center for bitcoin mining after the United States, according to the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance, after China, a major hub, clamped down on crypto mining activity. As of August, Kazakhstan was hosting 18% of global bitcoin mining, according to Fortune.

(Al Jazeera) The former head of Kazakhstan’s domestic intelligence agency has been detained on suspicion of high treason after he was fired amid violent protests.

The National Security Committee, or KNB, said in a statement on Saturday its former chief Karim Masimov – a close ally of Kazakhstan’s founding President Nursultan Nazarbayev – was arrested on Thursday after it launched an investigation into charges of high treason.

“On January 6 of this year the National Security Committee launched a pre-trial investigation into high treason,” it said. “On the same day, on suspicion of committing this crime, former chairman of the KNB KK Masimov was detained and placed in a temporary detention centre, along with others.”

No details were given about what Masimov, a two-time ex-prime minister, was alleged to have done that would constitute an attempted government overthrow. KNB, a successor to the Soviet-era KGB, is responsible for counterintelligence, the border guards service and anti-terror activities.