U.S. welcomes completion of Russian-led mission in Kazakhstan -State Dept

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. State Department on Tuesday welcomed Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev’s announcement that Russian-led forces had completed their mission in the country following serious unrest.

© Reuters/DEFENCE MINISTRY OF RUSSIA
Russian service members arrive amid mass protests in Kazakhstan

Tokayev said that forces from the Moscow-led Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) will begin withdrawing from the country in two days’ time after stabilizing the Central Asian nation.

“Until that process is completed, until the CSTO peacekeeping forces are withdrawn, we will continue to call upon all collective security treaty organization, collective peace-keeping forces to respect international human rights and to uphold their commitment to promptly depart Kazakhstan as the government of Kazakhstan has requested,” State Department spokesperson Ned Price told reporters.

(Reporting by Daphne Psaledakis; Writing by Rami Ayyub; Editing by Leslie Adler)