The Russian head of state has promised to help.
(Photo: imago images / ITAR-TASS)
Russia repeatedly accuses the West of applying double standards to political issues. And always to the disadvantage of Moscow, of course. This gives a deep insight, because it suggests that the Kremlin itself is doing just that.
And it also provides proof: on Wednesday morning, the spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin warned foreign forces against interfering in the bloody conflict in Kazakhstan. Less than 24 hours later, Russian paratroopers landed in the neighboring state.
Officially, this is the first deployment of the Alliance for Collective Security (ODKB) concluded by Russia with the Central Asian states. According to the statutes, this should only be possible in the event of an external threat from one of the member states.
And so the Kremlin and the Kazakh head of state Kassym-Shomart Tokayev claim that the West is once again fueling a “color revolution”, that is, the overthrow in a former Soviet republic, and is pursuing its “export of democracy”. There is no evidence to support this. Rather, there are many indications that Tokayev is pushing his long-time supporter Nursultan Nazarbayev out of the country and taking over power.
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Nazarbayev, once a member of the Central Committee of the CPSU, dissolved the country from the Soviet Union in 1991 and led it to independence. He chose Tokayev as his loyal successor and continued to secure de facto leadership as head of a newly created Security Council. Flight data indicate that he now appears to have fled to his riches in Dubai.
Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Belarus – Putin feels responsible
Moscow’s Soldateska, who is now supposed to put down the unrest together with Tokayev’s not completely loyal security forces, rushes to the aid of a pro-Russia autocrat.
Putin sees the extremely resource-rich Kazakhstan – like Ukraine and Belarus – as his sphere of influence. He even denies all three countries of their statehood, seeing them as traditionally Russian territories. These statements are all proven, his allegations against the West are not.
The European and American insistence on the inviolability of borders and national sovereignty is not anti-Russian aggression, as the Kremlin ruler claims. It is defending international law.
And if Putin had believed his own words from the past, he would not have sent Russian troops, but blue helmets from the UN or the OSCE. As is so often the case, Russian rhetoric turns out to be propaganda.
More: Reports of dozens dead and 1000 injured in riots in Kazakhstan – Russia sends troops