Putin: CSTO countries will not allow “color revolutions”

Moscow, (ST) – Russian President Vladimir Putin stressed that the attack on Kazakhstan is an act of aggression and it was necessary to respond to it without delay. He added that some external and internal forces took advantage of the economic situation in this country to achieve their goals.

“A Moscow-led military detachment deployed to Kazakhstan to quell the worst anti-government unrest in the post-Soviet country’s history will not allow “color revolutions” to take place”, President Putin said Monday.

 Putin’s remarks came days after 2,500 Russian, Belarusian, Armenian, Tajik and Kyrgyz troops were deployed across Kazakh cities to defend key state facilities as part of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) alliance.

“We will not allow the realization of so-called color revolution scenarios,” Putin said during Monday’s videoconference of CSTO members, according to the state-run RIA Novosti news agency.

He accused unidentified “outside forces” of interfering “in the internal affairs of our states,” echoing the Kazakh authorities’ latest claims of foreign links in the unrest.

“They used well-organized and well-controlled militant groups… including those who had obviously been trained in terrorist camps abroad,” Putin said, calling Kazakhstan the target of “international terrorism.”

Putin also stressed that the CSTO forces would only remain in Kazakhstan for a “limited” time period.

Raghda Sawas