It is still dangerous in Alma-Ata, but after the arrival of peacekeepers from Russia and other CSTO countries, the situation in Kazakhstan is gradually stabilizing. The correspondent of "Rossiyskaya Gazeta" on board of the military transport aviation went to the former capital of the Kazakh Republic, where at the beginning of the year there were major riots.

The Almaty airport is still closed for the arrival and departure of civil flights. Only Il-76 transports land on take-off, which deliver CSTO servicemen and equipment to the republic. To get to the airport, you need to pass several cordons on which the Kazakh and Russian military are stationed. Lines of men, women and children line up near the checkpoints. People with suitcases, trunks, backpacks show their passports, after which they are allowed to enter the airfield. These are Russian citizens who, due to various circumstances, ended up in Alma-Ata and now cannot get out to Russia.

Mostly people flew to the city for the winter holidays. Someone came to visit relatives, someone went downhill skiing. There are several good ski slopes near Alma-Ata.

It was a shock to everyone when crowds of outrageous vandals suddenly appeared in a peaceful and hospitable city. “There was shooting at night, there was no connection with the house. The shops were basically all closed, and those that worked accepted only cash, and we had all the money on the card,” said Russian woman Yulia Kamenshchikova.

According to her, they sat at home, afraid to show themselves on the street once again. “We learned purely by chance that the Russian military were forming export flights from Almaty, called the consulate, and they confirmed to us that we could fly home,” Yulia said.

The girl clarified that she will fly on a military transport plane for the first time, and this will be a real quest for her.

According to another passenger on the flight, Alexei Frolov, he and his wife and children came to Alma-Ata to go downhill skiing. “When these events began, we were sitting in the hotel. It was very scary for the children, they are small in our country, and it was difficult for them to explain why there was rumbling and shooting in the street and when we were going home. I called the embassy's hotline, I was told that the Russian military had organized export flights, and I signed up right away, "said Alexey.

Before departure, all passengers went through security checks, and then they were taken by buses to the plane. In order to accommodate more people on the plane, the crew installed additional rows of seats in the center. The pilots helped the passengers to climb the ramp with their suitcases. For all Russians, this was the first experience of flying the Il-76. Many passengers recorded video on the phone or took selfies as a souvenir. Everyone was unanimous in the fact that the plane was not entirely familiar, but, according to the evacuees, it was worthwhile to wait a few hours to eventually get home.

1461 Russian citizens have already been delivered from Kazakhstan by military transport aircraft of the Russian Aerospace Forces. On January 9, 1,422 Russians flew to Moscow on military aircraft, another 14 Russian athletes were delivered to Yekaterinburg by the military.

Earlier, 25 ski tourists were brought to Russia.

Alma-Ata itself in the first days of this year resembled a ghost town. Public transport did not work, cars occasionally drove through the streets, there were very few residents on the streets. Many stayed at home and went out into the city only when absolutely necessary. Glass is broken in many shops. Shops selling mobile phones, laptops, gold have suffered from looters. In one of the hypermarkets affected by the marauders, they said that the vandals pulled out the paving stones and broke glass with these stones to get inside.

In the store itself, you have to walk on a carpet of broken glass. It can be seen that the robbers hunted mainly for office equipment, and also everywhere opened cash registers in order to get cash.

On January 10, large consignments of bread were delivered to shops in Almaty. Residents note that the problem with its deficit has been resolved

Literally next door there is a completely plundered pavilion of one of the major mobile operators and an intact clothing boutique.

Rare passers-by, with whom we managed to talk, say that they have never experienced such a strong fear in their life.

“Most of the looters worked at night. Shooting, the crash of broken glass, loud screams - we listened to this for several nights. Consider that we did not sleep normally, they were afraid,” says one of the residents of the city Violetta.

According to her, shops in the city were closed and it took several blocks to find food. In addition, residents of Alma-Ata were accustomed to using bank cards when making payments and did not keep cash. After the Internet was turned off, it became impossible to buy food with the card. ATMs were mostly looted, and those that worked quickly ran out of cash."In the store where they knew us, they agreed to sell food on credit, they started a special book, which takes into account how much food and how much we collect. I hope that soon everything will finally end," said a local resident.

All residents of Alma-Ata, with whom we managed to communicate, are glad that the CSTO peacekeeping contingent was brought into the city. “It’s somehow calmer with your guys, I think this will help us quickly return to a peaceful life, everyone is already tired of this uncertainty and the feeling of constant fear.

Meanwhile

Peaceful life on the streets of Almaty is gradually returning. Yesterday, cash collection machines appeared in the city for replenishing ATMs and terminals for paying for mobile communications. Acceptance of bank cards to pay for goods has been resumed in large retail outlets in Alma-Ata. Small shops, however, still only accept cash. There are not so many people in stores yet. In the morning hours, there was a congestion at the stalls with bread.

Large consignments of bread were delivered to shops in Almaty yesterday. Residents note that the problem with its deficit has been resolved. But the order to retail outlets in Alma-Ata to ban the sale of alcoholic beverages will remain in force until January 19. This announcement was posted in the city's supermarkets. The shelves where alcoholic drinks were previously presented remain empty.

Yesterday it became known that S7 Airlines resumed the sale of air tickets for all its own flights to Kazakhstan, as well as for codeshare flights on the Moscow - Nur-Sultan route and back. In turn, Ural Airlines will resume flights to Kazakhstan from January 14.

Opinion

Kazakhstan was on the verge of civil war

Igor Korotchenko, editor-in-chief of the National Defense magazine

- The introduction of the CSTO peacekeepers into Kazakhstan was timely and, perhaps, the only decision that made it possible to stabilize the situation in the republic. If not for this decision, the situation, I think, would have developed according to an extremely unfavorable scenario. Kazakhstan would be plunged into a large-scale civil war.

The events there, I think, should be interpreted as the events of September 11, 2001 were interpreted at one time. That is, this is an attack on Kazakhstan by international terrorists. The reaction is appropriate. The heads of the CSTO member states reacted instantly to the appeal of the President of the Republic, thanks primarily to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Colleagues supported our position, a collective decision was made to stabilize the situation in Kazakhstan.

The CSTO peacekeeping forces brought in there do not participate in military actions. They are engaged only in the protection of especially important objects. Their introduction into the republic gave confidence to the leadership of Kazakhstan and the local security forces, who are already putting things in order in the republic. That is, it became a powerful gesture of military and political support.

It is obvious that the presence of the CSTO military contingent in Kazakhstan will last as long as is necessary to fully control the situation. According to various estimates, it can be a month or more - events will show.

It should not be forgotten that the events in Kazakhstan took place on the eve of negotiations on security guarantees for Russia. If the situation in Kazakhstan developed in an unfavorable scenario, this would weaken Moscow's negotiating position. Of course, there are external stakeholders who were ready to take advantage of what was happening in Kazakhstan to organize instability along the perimeter of the borders of the Russian Federation.

The scale of the unrest shows that armed and well-trained fighters quickly emerged behind the protesters with economic slogans. For example, the events in Alma-Ata clearly indicate that it was an armed insurrection with clearly defined targets and targets of attack. Ordinary protesters are unable to effectively confront the security and law enforcement agencies. International terrorists were unambiguously involved in the clashes.

Through the eyes of an eyewitness

A resident of Almaty told about the terrible events of early 2022

This woman's name is Tatiana. She is Russian, but has been living in Kazakhstani Alma-Ata for over 40 years and loves this beautiful city very much. Therefore, with genuine pain he speaks of recent events there. Here's what Tatiana told about the terrible days of early January 2022. She wrote down her message and sent us via messenger at the moment when the Internet messenger was working in Alma-Ata. And while in the city he turns on sporadically and for a short time.

Her first impression was that it swept through her native Alma-Ata like a fiery tornado.

"I will briefly tell you what happened in our country. Prices for liquefied gas were raised from January 1. This caused discontent among the residents of Kazakhstan, especially in the western regions, because it is very important for them. People went to peaceful rallies, sought to lower prices, put forward other economic demands. ”The President heard them.The government resigned. Gas prices have returned to their previous levels. At the same time, there were no riots - people stood peacefully in the squares, expressing their opinions. The local police did not interfere in this, did not touch any of the protesters.

But suddenly terrorists appeared in Kazakhstan. Rather, they have already been sent here. In addition, it seems that there were still "sleeping" cells throughout the republic, which were just waiting for a signal to take action. And so these terrorists plus members of the "sleeping" cells united, and pogroms, robberies, looting, and bullying began.

Judging by the fact that people were killed in a cruel way, the policemen were stripped and their uniforms were taken away, and the heads of the military were cut off - all this is the handwriting of the ISIS (members of a terrorist organization banned in the Russian Federation. - Ed.).

It was a terrible sight. Crowds of angry, with inhuman, glassy eyes of people rushed through the streets of our beautiful city of Alma-Ata and destroyed everything.

They turned out traffic lights, smashed the windows of all shops and banks. They robbed ATMs, shops - TSUM, Mega, Sulpak, Tekhnodom, the Magnum chain, jewelry stores and mobile communication stores - everything was looted.

Like a tornado swept through the city. Basically, it went along the streets of Tulebi, Abay, Raimbek.

But it began with a new square (as the old-timers of Alma-Ata call the central square of the city in the old fashioned way. - Ed.) They destroyed the offices of all the TV channels in Alma-Ata - not only Mir, but our Kazakhstani ones. They were defeated, burned and flooded.

The bandits seized the akimat and set it on fire. Twice they tried to capture the Koktobe TV tower. They seized the airport, blocked the railway stations. They stormed the building of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the department of border guards ... In general, the key government and power structures.

The terrorists were armed. Some had walkie-talkies, that is, they worked on trunking communication. On the second day, the Internet was turned off. It was very scary. Shots rang out, the whole city was in smoke and fire.

Firefighters left, but the bandits destroyed their cars. They made raids on ambulances, did not give passage, blocked some medical centers such as city hospital No. 7, where they tried to deliver the wounded.

This was all clearly thought out, prepared. They took everyone by surprise.

But when the rallies were still going on in the west of Kazakhstan, part of the police from Alma-Ata was transferred there. It turned out that our city was not fully protected.

All this is a very bitter lesson. First of all - for the government of Kazakhstan.

My family waited for the pogroms at home. It's good that there was a stock of groceries and we had withdrawn cash the day before - as we felt that ATMs would not be available. Only the "Khabar" TV channel located in Nur-Sultan worked in Alma-Ata. All the others did not broadcast. As I said, the Alma-Ata were defeated and destroyed.

If you hear somewhere that the police are on the side of the bandits, all this is not true. They were beaten and killed, and someone else's uniform was used to mislead people.

In general, as I understood, you can only believe the information from our official sources. And not Western ones, because obviously according to their methods, all this happened.

It is correct that the CSTO peacekeepers were brought in. Residents of Almaty support this decision. Moreover, no one expects that peacekeepers in tanks will drive around the city and shoot. In order to neutralize terrorists, forces are needed.

And the CSTO posts were placed at the most important "points", they guard important objects. They do not fight terrorists. Therefore, be calm: none of the boys of other states will die here.

January 10 is a day of mourning in our republic. The new government will be presented soon. I believe that everything will be fine with us. That Kazakhstan and my beloved Alma-Ata will recover. "

bbabo.Net