Kazakhstan: Russia-led troops to start leaving in 2 days

INA-  sources

Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said the pullout as a whole would take less than two weeks. He has also nominated a new government and prime minister.
Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev told parliament on Tuesday that the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) military bloc will start withdrawing its troops from Kazakhstan in two days.
 
"The main mission of the CSTO peacekeeping forces has been successfully completed," Tokayev said during a session broadcast live on state television.
 
"In two days a phased withdrawal of the CSTO united peacekeeping contingent will begin. The withdrawal process of the contingent will take no more than 10 days," he said.
 
This comes after nearly a week of unrest, by far the worst violence in the 30-year independent history of the former Soviet state.
 
Government buildings in several cities were briefly captured or set alight after protests escalated last week.
 
Dozens of people were killed in clashes between protesters and government forces in what Tokayev called an attempted coup d'etat coordinated by "a single center."
 
Security forces have detained 9,900 people since the uprising began in the oil-rich Central Asian nation, the Interior Ministry said Tuesday.
Kazakhstan's new government 
The president on Tuesday also nominated candidates for government posts, including that of the prime minister.
 
He picked Alikhan Smailov to lead the new government, and Kazakhstan's lower house swiftly voted to appoint him as prime minister.
 
Smailov, 49, served as deputy prime minister in the cabinet dismissed last week by Tokayev.