Remarks from the US secretary of state on the crisis unfolding in Kazakhstan are reminiscent of rhetoric from the Cold War era, a top Russian parliamentarian has said as Nur-Sultan grapples with outbreaks of street violence.
In a statement issued on Monday, the chairman of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs, Leonid Slutsky, accused Washington of “seeing ghosts of the USSR” in the events.
He slammed US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s calls for Nur-Sultan to explain the need to involve the Moscow-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) to stabilize the situation in the country.
Speaking to CNN, Blinken said Washington had “real questions” about “why they felt compelled to call in this organization that Russia dominates,” and demanded clarification on the matter.
“According to Blinken, Kazakhstan’s leadership should have peacefully and unassisted, or, even better, with their bare hands, came out against the armed gangs of militants,” Slutsky said.
He also hit out at the American official’s recent accusations that Russian President Vladimir Putin is eyeing up re-exerting “a sphere of influence over countries that previously were part of the Soviet Union.”