ALMATY
\nRussian troops were loading onto planes taking off from Kazakhstan on Thursday after President Vladimir Putin said their mission to quell protests that turned into unprecedented unrest in the Central Asian country had ended.
\nThe decision to dispatch troops was a first for the Moscow-led Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO), an alliance of ex-Soviet states often touted by Russia as a Nato equivalent, following an urgent plea from Kazakhstan\u2019s leadership.
\nAt a ceremony marking the end of the mission, soldiers lined up as anthems from each of the six member countries were played before official speeches.
\n\u201cThe peacekeeping operation is over,\u201d said Russian General Andrei Serdyukov, commander of the contingent that included troops from Belarus, Armenia, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.
\nRussian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu told Putin the pullout would be completed by Wednesday next week, several days ahead of a January 22 deadline set by the alliance to complete the withdrawal.
\n\u201cWe must come home. We\u2019ve completed our mission,\u201d Putin told Shoigu during their meeting.
\nThe plea from Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, during the height of the unrest, for Moscow to intervene was a turning point of the protests.
\nThe move sparked concerns that Moscow would leverage the mission to shore up influence in Kazakhstan and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken earlier warned that \u201conce Russians are in your house, it\u2019s sometimes very difficult to get them to leave\u201d.
\nDuring his first visit to Kazakhstan\u2019s main city Almaty on Wednesday \u2014 where life has been gradually returning to normal \u2014 Tokayev praised the \u201cpsychological importance\u201d of the CSTO mission.
\nThe financial hub of 1.8 million people was devastated during clashes bet\u00adween security forces and government opponents that gave way to a spree of looting.
\nOne strategic complex the troop contingent was guarding was Almaty airport, which was reportedly seized by government opponents last week.
\nThe airport\u2019s press service said that it was handling both domestic and international flights again on Thursday.
\nLast week\u2019s violence erupted on the back of rallies over a rise in fuel prices and against a background of deteriorating living standards and endemic corruption.
\nTokayev has framed the clashes as a coup attempt assisted by local and international terrorists and said that economic damage from the violence \u201ccould total $2-3 billion\u201d.
\nPutin hinted that the violence was reminiscent of \u201ccolour revolutions\u201d instigated with foreign help and at least 12,000 people have been detained, police said, with at least three journalists reportedly under arrest.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ALMATY Russian troops were loading onto planes taking off from Kazakhstan on Thursday after President Vladimir Putin said their mission to quell protests that turned into unprecedented unrest in the Central Asian country had ended. The decision to dispatch troops was a first for the Moscow-led Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO), an alliance of ex-Soviet […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":238838,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[2633,2993,338,2994],"class_list":{"0":"post-238809","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-kazakhstan","9":"tag-pullout","10":"tag-russia","11":"tag-troops"},"yoast_head":"\n