CSTO to deploy peacekeeping forces to Kazakhstan

The Collective Security Council of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), the highest body of the organization, has decided to deploy peacekeeping forces to Kazakhstan, Council Chairman and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said Thursday.

"Based on the request by Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and in view of the threat to the national security and the sovereignty of the Republic of Kazakhstan, including the external intervention, the CSTO Collective Security Council, in accordance with Article 4 of the Collective Security Treaty, decided to deploy the CSTO Collective Peacekeeping Forces to Kazakhstan," Pashinyan wrote on his Facebook page.

"The forces will be deployed for a limited period of time in order to stabilize the situation in the country," he added.

Tokayev said Wednesday he intended to "act as tough as possible" as the situation in the country becomes "extremely tense."

About half of the country's territory is engulfed in riots, he said in his address to the people of Kazakhstan, adding that the situation is especially difficult in the Kazakh city of Almaty.

"I intend to act as tough as possible... Together we will overcome this black period in the history of Kazakhstan," he said.

Earlier on Wednesday, Tokayev signed a presidential decree to accept the resignation of the country's government.

In accordance with the decree, government members will continue to fulfill their duties until a new government is formed.