MOSCOW (AP) — Kazakhstan’s influential former chief launched a brief video on Tuesday wherein he talked concerning the violent unrest that engulfed the ex-Soviet nation earlier this month and rejected experiences alleging that he fled the nation amid tensions with the present president.
It was the primary time that Nursultan Nazarbayev, who ran Kazakhstan for 29 years after it gained independence and saved an influential submit after stepping down as president in 2019, spoke publicly concerning the protests and the bloodshed they descended into.
Nazarbayev additionally denied that there have been tensions between him and his hand-picked successor, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. Some speculated that a rift between the 2 may have performed a job in exacerbating the unrest.
Protests in Kazakhstan, an oil and gas-rich nation of 19 million in Central Asia, started on Jan. 2 in a small western city over the near-doubling of gasoline costs. However they shortly unfold throughout the huge nation, rising right into a normal protest in opposition to the authoritarian authorities and turning into violent riots that killed over 220 folks.
Tokayev sought to calm the crowds by asserting a 180-day cap on gasoline costs and eradicating Nazarbayev as head of the Nationwide Safety Council, an influential submit he occupied since stepping down. The transfer was seen by some as an try to finish the previous chief’s patronage that had ignited tensions amongst Kazakhstan’s ruling elite, additional fueling the unrest.
In his video deal with Tuesday, Nazarbayev, 81, rejected these allegations. “There is no such thing as a battle or confrontation inside the nation’s elite. The rumours on this regard are fully groundless,” he mentioned.
He additionally dismissed experiences that claimed he had fled the nation, and backed Tokayev’s transfer to take over as head of the Nationwide Safety Council.
“In 2019, I handed over the presidential authority to Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, and have ever since been a retiree, at present having fun with retirement within the capital of Kazakhstan, having by no means left wherever. President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has the total energy, he’s the chairman of the Safety Council,” Nazarbayev mentioned.
In keeping with Kazastan’s officers, 227 folks died within the violence, together with 19 law enforcement officials and servicemen. Saturday’s toll of 225 rose on Tuesday, when the nation’s Well being Minister Azhar Giniyat mentioned two extra individuals who have been injured within the unrest died within the hospital.
Greater than 4,300 folks have been injured, and hundreds have been detained by authorities.
To quell the unrest, Tokayev requested assist from the Russia-led navy alliance, the Collective Safety Treaty Group, which is made up of six former Soviet nations. The bloc despatched greater than 2,000 troops to Kazakhstan and withdrew them after a number of days.