In scenes that recalled the crushing of the Prague Spring five decades ago, thousands of Russian soldiers were deployed into neighbouring Kazakhstan on Thursday to help prop up that country’s wobbling authoritarian regime.
Dozens of anti-government protesters, as well as at least 18 security officers, were killed in a second day of violent clashes across Kazakhstan, an oil-rich former Soviet republic that is the largest state in Central Asia. Videos posted to social media showed smoke rising over the centre of Almaty, the country’s largest city, amid the sound of automatic weapons fire that didn’t stop for minutes at a time.
It wasn’t immediately clear whether the newly arrived Russian forces – formally described as “peacekeepers” – were involved in the violence. Their presence was expected to stabilize a kleptocratic and repressive regime that seemed to be on the brink of collapse Wednesday after protesters overran Almaty’s city hall and main airport.
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