Protests in Kazakhstan and the involvement of the CSTO: security implications for Belarus and the wider neighbourhood

The recent (and still ongoing) protests in Kazakhstan took many by surprise. For a resource-rich country, a sharp rise in energy prices and ensuing consumer impoverishment, which contributed to the protests, have raised questions, but in truth these developments have been anticipated for years. What was truly out of the ordinary is the subsequent rapid rejigging of power configurations, and the deployment of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) troops to restore order. The former looked like a premeditated coup, and the latter were invited by Kazakhstan authorities, raising some serious security concerns among politicians, the military, experts and ordinary citizens. While for the international community these developments in Kazakhstan seem like another exercise of power by Russia; for Belarus this was the first deployment of its troops abroad, on a CSTO mission.

What are the implications of the protests in Kazakhstan for the post-Soviet region and Belarus in particular? What do they mean also for regional and international security, in the current circumstances? What recommendations should be offered to the national and international stakeholders, regarding the CSTO’s military involvement, to restore order? These and other questions will be discussed at the expert webinar jointly convened by the Research Centre of Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya Office (OST Research Centre) and the Oxford Belarus Observatory (OBO), with the support of the GCRF COMPASS project.