02.02.2022, Saint Petersburg.
Domestic radical groups have risen in Kazakhstan over the past 30 year, which participated in the unrest in Alma-Ata in January 2022, said political scientist and orientalist Aleksandr Knyazev in an interview, the Zona.kz Internet newspaper reports.
“As for foreign participants, I think domestic radical groups have risen in Kazakhstan over the past 30 years,” Knyazev said.
The number of radicals who operated in Almaty, according to Knyazev, was within 200-300 people.
“Speaking about radicals with military training and experience who initiated the shooting etc., I do not think their number could exceed maybe three hundred people. This is even too much for what they did in Alma-Ata,” Knyazev said.
The political scientist mentioned incidents that took place in Kazakhstan over the previous years. They included shooting against border guards at the Arkankergen checkpoint. Knyazev also mentioned various evidence from tourists who saw armed people in the mountains.
“All this may be related to training of these groups,” Knyazev said.
During January unrest, the President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said that 20 thousand people were involved in the seizure of Alma-Ata, including many foreign mercenaries who arrived to Kazakhstan from “a Central Asian state.”
Source: Rossa Primavera News Agency
