The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO):
A Moscow-led military alliance dispatched troops to help quell mounting unrest in Kazakhstan as the police said dozens were killed trying to storm government buildings.
- Long seen as one the most stable of the ex-Soviet republics of Central Asia, energy-rich Kazakhstan is facing its biggest crisis in decades after days of protests over rising fuel prices escalated into widespread unrest.
- Under increasing pressure, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev appealed overnight to the Russia-domina- ted Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO), which includes five other ex-Soviet states, to combat what he called “terrorist groups” that had “received extensive training abroad”.
- The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) is an intergovernmental military alliance in Eurasia that consists of select post-Soviet states.
- Membership: Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan.
- Headquarters: Moscow, Russia.
