Thread by @VanberghenEU

No joke! Back home from holiday, my 8 y old daughter's 1st ❓: “Do you know what's going on in #Kazakhstan? The president allowed to shoot the population.” I think my son "briefed" her. My oldest daughter received videos from her colleagues in Kazakhstan. My thread bellow 1/1

#EUforeignpolicy: @EmmanuelMacron & @vonderleyen demanding the violence in #Kazakhstan cease adding #EU is ready to help calm the situation & assist where it can. @JosepBorrellF reiterating that it's important that rights and civilian safety is ensured #HumanRightsViolations 1/2

#US @SecBlinken: not clear why #Kazakhstan feel the need for any outside assistance. It would seem to me that the government certainly have the capacity to deal appropriately with protests to do so in a way that respects the rights of protesters while maintaining law & order.1/3

Of course as said @SecBlinken .... lesson of recent history is that once #Russians are in your house, it's sometimes very difficult to get them to leave. #Kazakhstan 1/4

It's remarkable that #China has expressed its support for the #Kazakh regime on Friday. Chinese leader #XiJinping says his country is opposed to foreign troops who are “creating unrest and want to start a coloured revolution”. #Kazakhstan 1/5

#Russia is using its support to President #Tokayev to reinforce its relation with #Kazakh power? Hmm, the relation btw #Russia & #Kazakhstan has been 😬 in the past. Putin’s decision to send 3000 troops to Kazakhstan could help him regain tactical strength in #CentralAsia🙄1/6

Leader of Kazakh opposition Democratic Choice #Kazakhstan #MukhtarAblyazov told #Reuters he is calling on the West to intervene. "The West should tear Kazakhstan away from Russia. Russia has already entered, sent in troops. CSTO is #Russia. This is an occupation by Russia." 1/7

According to #Kazakhstan’s Interior Ministry, over 5,000 arrests have now been made. President #Tokayev's office said the situation has “calmed down”, but added that “terrorists are still active”. 1/8

Deputy secretary of the Security Council, Asamat Abdymomunov, has been dismissed and that the domestic secret service’s former head, Karim Massimov, has been arrested for high treason. Seems that President #Tokayev is seeking people to blame and turning on rival elites.1/9

#Putin on Saturday that Kazakhstan is “on the road to stabilisation” after six days of protests, although pockets of unrest remain. #Tokayev once again thanked Putin for sending troops to #Kazakhstan. The 2 agreed to hold a video conference with other CSTO leaders. #ElPais 1/10

#UN #EU #US called on Kazakh to show restraint/de-escalation. #Tokayev said "the calls of EU leaders to negotiate with the protesters were absurd. What kind of negotiations can we have with criminals, with murderers?” stating that they must soon “be destroyed”. 1/11

Prof. Włodzimierz Marciniak, a former #Polish ambassador to #Russia, says the situation in #Kazakhstan looks like a “palace coup” by #Tokayev to oust Nursultan Nazarbayev from his constitutionally guaranteed post of National Leader 1/12

#Russia responded angrily on Saturday to @SecBlinken comments that #Kazakhstan may find it difficult to get Russian troops to leave, calling them “vulgar”. Russia's Foreign Ministry said Blinken should reflect instead on #US military meddling around the world. #Libération 1/13

#Germany decided to halt its weapon sales to #Kazakhstan, noting that, while those sales did not amount to very much, halting them was “necessary considering the current situation”. #EU 1/14

#Finnish FM #Haavisto says the situation in #Kazakhstan came as a surprise& notes that the exact nature of the situation appears unclear to #West and #EU. Haavisto says the unrest appears to have started due to public’s dissatisfaction on factors including #energy prices.1/15

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