Russian troops have now arrived in Kazakhstan in a desperate bid to halt the tide of violence that has swept the country. Their arrival is a last resort for the country’s president Kassym-Jomart Tokayev as he fights to maintain his grip on power. But he isn’t the only leader who is eager to quell this unrest: Vladimir Putin will be deeply troubled by what events in Kazakhstan mean for his own leadership.
Fuel price rises were the immediate trigger for the unrest in Kazakhstan, but the rapid spread of these protests – from the west of the country, close to Kazakhstan’s oil fields, to numerous towns and cities – shows that something much more fundamental is to blame for the disturbances that could well topple the regime of president Tokayev. To put it bluntly: the patience of many Kazakhs has run out.
The limited state of emergency declared by Tokayev has been extended from just a few areas to the whole country. Government
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