Answering a question at her Jan. 6 press briefing, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said: “We are closely monitoring reports that the Collective Security Treaty Organization have dispatched its collective peacekeeping forces to Kazakhstan. We have questions about the nature of this request and whether … it was a legitimate invitation or not. We don’t know at this point.” (A remarkably stupid response, since any “close monitoring” would have told them what the conditions were for a head of state request for CSTO aid.)
Psaki went on expressing concern that the CSTO forces respect “human rights"—that, in a situation in which the mob is firing on law enforcement and had left the bodies of two policemen decapitated. “The world will, of course, be watching for any violation of human rights and actions that may lay the predicate for the seizure of Kazakh institutions,” she intoned, “and we call on the CSTO collective peacekeeping forces and law enforcement to uphold international human rights obligations in order to support a peaceful resolution.”
Psaki said that “there has not been any change to the planned three sets of talks next week” on Russia’s security demands. (https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/press-briefings/2022/01/06/press-briefing-by-press-secretary-jen-psaki-january-6-2022/)
