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| Zakharova denies media reports about the withdrawal of CSTO forces from Kazakhstan after negotiations with China |
| 2022-02-07 |
| Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. [RIA Novosti] The official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova , denied the assertion of some media that the decision to withdraw the CSTO contingent from Kazakhstan was made after the conversation between Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Chinese Ambassador to Russia Zhang Hanhui. According to a number of media reports, the CSTO forces were withdrawn from Kazakhstan after a call from the Chinese ambassador to the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry. Commenting on this in her Telegram channel, Zakharova wrote that "the Chinese ambassador did not call Sergei Lavrov." "Sergey Lavrov had a telephone conversation with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of China. And what will we do with Sergei Lavrov's telephone conversations with his Turkish and Indian colleagues on the eve of the deployment of the CSTO forces? Where is the expert's deep thought that it was after this that the Russian military flew to Alma-Ata? The decision on the input and output of the CSTO forces is made by the CSTO members. China is not a member of this organization," she wrote. According to her, "Decisions in the CSTO are taken collectively, on the basis of the Treaty. The whole operation (discussion, decision-making, its implementation) was carried out as openly as possible. Information was provided by all departments and, of course, by the CSTO itself, whose secretariat showed high professionalism in working with the media. The operation ended - its active coverage ended," the official wrote. As Zakharova pointed out, "the fact that the operation was shown by all our channels almost around the clock is absolutely natural: it was about citizens of Russia, Russian military, heading to a country with which we are connected by a common history, family ties and the longest border." "And also proximity to Afghanistan, where everything, to put it mildly, is not very stable after the enchanting flight of NATO from this country last year," added Maria Zakharova. Tokayev spoke about the help of CSTO peacekeepers during the riots According to her, "We regularly comment on the topics of the situation in Kazakhstan , the CSTO and the operation, including on the platforms of international organizations." She concluded: "But the question of the level of experts in our liberal media, including Ekho Moskvy, has come to a head." In early January, mass protests took place in Kazakhstan. In the first days of 2022, residents of the cities of Zhanaozen and Aktau in the west of the country opposed the doubling of prices for liquefied gas. Later, the protests spread to other cities, including Alma-Ata, the old capital and the largest city of the republic: looting began there, militants attacked state institutions, took away weapons. President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev appealed to the CSTO for help "in overcoming the terrorist threat." The CSTO Collective Security Council decided to send collective peacekeeping forces to Kazakhstan to normalize the situation. The successful completion of the CSTO mission was announced on January 13. On January 19, the Ministry of Defense of Kazakhstan announced that there were no longer any foreign military in the republic. |
| Posted by:badanov |