Russian troops to quit Kazakhstan, says president, taking aim at the elite

Russian-led forces will begin withdrawing from Kazakhstan in two days’ time after stabilising the Central Asian nation following serious unrest, the president said on Tuesday, in a speech that took aim at wealthy associates of his predecessor.

In a video call with parliament after putting down what he has called an attempted coup, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev appointed a new government headed by career public servant Alikhan Smailov.

In what looked like his latest attempt to distance himself from his predecessor, Tokayev said that public discontent over income inequality was justified and that he wanted associates of Nursultan Nazarbayev, the ex-president, to share their wealth.

Many Central Asia analysts believe intra-clan infighting among the elite may have played a major role in what was the deadliest violence in the ex-Soviet republic’s 30 years of independence from Moscow.

As protesters torched buildings in the biggest city Almaty last week, Tokayev said former leader Nazarbayev was leaving his post as head of the powerful Security Council - where he had continued to pull the strings despite handing over the presidency in 2019.

Nazarbayev, 81, who ran the country for almost three decades and backed Tokayev as his successor, has not made a public appearance since.

Tokayev also rounded on security officials, accusing them of abandoning their posts and letting protesters capture weapons and sensitive documents. He has blamed the violence on foreign-trained Islamist radicals and “terrorists”.

He said on Tuesday that the National Security Committee, the Kazakh successor to the Soviet KGB, had not only missed the looming threat, but had failed to act properly during the unrest. 
- NUR-SULTAN, Jan 11 
(Reuters)