U.S. Embassy ramps up security as officials urge calm in Kazakhstan

Senior U.S. officials are urging Kazakhstan’s leaders to find peaceful resolutions to a series of protests, many of them violent, while questioning the wisdom of the authoritarian Central Asian country’s decision to seek security assistance from a Russian-dominated military alliance.

The protests, which began last weekend over a spike in fuel prices but evolved to cover political grievances and fury against corruption, also led the U.S. Embassy in Kazakhstan to ramp up security measures and weigh an evacuation, according to emails obtained by POLITICO.

Kazakhstan is a large, landlocked country of roughly 19 million people that borders Russia and China, making it of strategic interest to the United States. U.S. companies such as Chevron and ExxonMobil have invested billions in the country’s energy sector. The unrest there further comes as the United States seeks to resolve tensions along the Russia-Ukraine border, where Moscow has amassed as many as 100,000 troops ahead of a potential re-invasion.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke Thursday with Kazakh Foreign Minister Mukhtar Tileuberdi. Blinken “reiterated the United States’ full support for Kazakhstan’s constitutional institutions and media freedom and advocated for a peaceful, rights-respecting resolution to the crisis,” according to a State Department readout. He “also raised the priority of promoting stability in Europe, including support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity in response to Russian aggression.”

Blinken separately tweeted that he had a “[p]roductive call” with Tileuberdi and that they both are “committed to supporting Kazakhstan’s constitutional institutions and the peaceful and diplomatic resolution of disputes.”

In response to the protests across the country, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev threatened on Wednesday “to act as toughly as possible.” He accepted his cabinet’s resignation and introduced a state of emergency in several provinces.

Tokayev later declared a two-week state of emergency for the entire country, as demonstrations ramped up in Almaty, Kazakhstan’s largest city, where protesters reportedly stormed and set fire to the presidential residence and the mayor’s office.

The U.S. Embassy is located in the city of Nur-Sultan, which is named after Nursultan Nazarbayev, the country’s longtime autocratic leader, who still plays a role in its affairs. But the United States has diplomatic facilities in Almaty, as well.

As the protests grew more violent, State Department officials weighed various security measures, according to emails shared among several top officials, including Wendy Sherman, deputy secretary of State. On Jan. 5, they discussed the possibility of evacuating embassy staff and American citizens. Embassy officials ultimately decided that leaving the country was not necessary unless the situation on the ground became more dangerous.

In Almaty, extra police were sent to guard U.S. embassy facilities. Embassy staff members, meanwhile, sheltered in place, apparently on Jan. 5. That same evening, the Kazakh Interior Ministry reported that eight people died and 317 were wounded amid the protests, and that demonstrators briefly took control of parts of the airport in Almaty.

Internet outages at times prevented embassy staffers from sending cables, according to the emails. And at one point, State Department officials surmised that “the Kazakh government appears so far unable to quell the protests in Almaty.”

The State Department declined to comment on the record about the emails. But a spokesperson told POLITICO that State was “monitoring the situation on the ground as Mission Kazakhstan continues to operate with limited capacity.”

Tokayev ultimately asked for assistance from the Collective Security Treaty Organization, a Moscow-based alliance of six former Soviet countries, and the CSTO’s council approved sending an unspecified number of peacekeepers to Kazakhstan. Russian state-controlled media said those forces included airborne Russian troops.

CSTO’s membership consists of Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. The organization’s roots go back some 30 years, but this was the first time the alliance had deployed its forces to a member apparently in need.

Some analysts said they would not be surprised if Russia took advantage of the “peacekeeping” mission to keep some of its troops in Kazakhstan on a more permanent basis — a move that could upset some parts of Kazakh society.

On Thursday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki raised doubts about the CSTO’s role.

“We have questions about the nature of this request and whether it was a legitimate invitation or not,” she said at the daily briefing. “We don’t know at this point.”

Psaki also warned that the international community “will of course be watching for any violation of human rights actions that may lay the predicate for the seizure of Kazakh institutions,” adding: “We call on the CSTO collective peacekeeping forces and law enforcement to uphold the international human rights obligations in order to support a peaceful resolution.”

Clashes continued on Thursday, as security forces killed dozens of protesters and 12 police officers died during the demonstrations, including one who was found beheaded, according to The Associated Press.

Many of the protesters have aimed their ire at the still-powerful Nazarbayev, who technically stepped down as president in 2019; images on social media showed a toppled statue of Nazarbayev, and one protest slogan has been “Go away, old man!”

A U.S. official familiar with the issue said the security situation appeared more under control on Thursday than earlier in the week. Tokayev’s decision to ask for CSTO assistance might have been premature, the official said, and could cost him politically.

But in a country like Kazakhstan, ruled by an authoritarian government and dominated by a wealthy elite, it remains difficult to gauge the broader implications of the demonstrations.

So far, the protests have included some people committing crimes and episodes of excessive reaction by security forces. Most of the demonstrators, however, “are just frustrated and hungry and want jobs, fuel and other middle-class stuff,” the official said.

“It’s just that the elites never thought actual protests could happen,” the official added. “All of the elites live in an oil and gas bubble.”