The German website Nachdenkseiten reports that, “according to Moscow’s Nezavisimaya Gazeta, former Kazakh minister Mukhtar Ablyazov plays a key role in the unrest in Kazakhstan. Ablyazov reportedly coordinates the protests in Kazakhstan from Kiev. Via Facebook, he called his supporters to `coordinated action.’ The ex-minister’s contact phone numbers all have a Ukrainian area code, the article said.
“Moscow’s Nezavisimaya Gazeta wrote that ‘the fact that the protest spread across the country within two days suggests that there is an organizing center.’
“For the hawks in London, Washington and Berlin, the unrest in Kazakhstan comes just at the right time. Russia’s unrest on its southern flank, just ahead of talks on NATO security guarantees, is highly inopportune.”
Already last Dec. 16, the U.S. embassy in Kazakhstan had warned that planned demonstrations called for by Ablyazov’s banned party, Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan (DVK), for that day could escalate into violence. See the embassy dispatch here: https://kz.usembassy.gov/demonstration-alert121521/
