Russia 'attentively' watching events in Kazakhstan

MOSCOW

Russia said on Wednesday that it is "attentively" monitoring ongoing protests in neighboring Kazakhstan, urging a peaceful solution via dialogue within a legal framework.

In a Foreign Ministry statement, Moscow said the steps taken by Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev were aimed at "the stabilization of the situation, the prompt solution of existing problems, including those contained in the legitimate demands of the protesters."

"We hope for the soonest normalization of the situation in the country with which Russia is linked by relations of strategic partnership and alliance, fraternal, human contacts," the ministry said.

It added that it was maintaining contact with Russian external institutions in Kazakhstan and noted that the situation around the Russian diplomatic and consular missions remained calm.

"According to the information available at the moment, there are no victims among the citizens of the Russian Federation who are in the Republic of Kazakhstan," it said.

The protests broke out on Saturday, when drivers held demonstrations against an increase in liquefied petroleum gas prices (LPG) in the city of Zhanaozen, which later spread to Aktau city.

More protests erupted in their support in the western cities of Atyrau, Aktobe, and Oral, where the country’s petroleum and natural gas reserves are located, spreading to other areas countrywide.