Some US Officials Do Not Understand Situation in Kazakhstan - Official

Everyone is accustomed to the fact that some representatives of Washington do not understand everything, passing it off a position of the United States, Zakharova said

Russia's Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova Russian Foreign Ministry/TASS

© Russian Foreign Ministry/TASS

MOSCOW, January 7. /TASS/. Some US representatives do not understand what is happening in Kazakhstan and pass it off as the official position of Washington, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

The diplomat commented on the statements of the White House press secretary Jen Psaki that the United States has questions about the legality of the request of the authorities of Kazakhstan to use the forces of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) in the country.

"Everyone is accustomed to the fact that some representatives of Washington do not understand everything, passing it off a position of the United States," Zakharova wrote in her Telegram channel.

On January 2, crowds took to the streets in the cities of Zhanaozen and Aktau in the Mangystau Region, in southwestern Kazakhstan, protesting against high fuel prices. Two days later, the protests engulfed Almaty, in the country’s southeast, where the police used flashbangs to disperse the crowd, as well as other cities, including Atyrau, Aktobe (in the west), Uralsk (in the northwest), Taraz, Shymkent, Kyzylorda (in the south), Karaganda (in the northeast) and even Kazakhstan’s capital Nur-Sultan. The president imposed a two-week state of emergency in the Mangystau Region and in the Almaty Region, as well as the republic’s largest city of Almaty and the capital Nur-Sultan. On January 5, the head of the state also accepted the government’s resignation. Its members will continue to perform their tasks until a new cabinet is formed.