CSTO Troops Operation Successful And Right On Target, Russia Blames The West: All Their Operations Lead To Failure

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova. (Twitter/@RussianEmbassy)

JAKARTA - The spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, made a scathing sarcasm against the West, regarding the presence of the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) coalition forces.

Zakharova called the legitimate and professional actions of the CSTO forces in Kazakhstan causing understandable irritation on the part of the West. Earlier, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev appreciated the success of the CSTO troops, saying they would leave the country within two days after conditions stabilized.

"Of course, (CSTO's actions in Kazakhstan) caused disturbance (in the West). I can understand very well, because all their (Western) operations have led to the opposite, failure," she said, quoted by TASS January 12.

"I can very well understand the anger and hatred of people in the West today, criticizing expressing their confusion regarding the actions of the CSTO and the request of Kazakhstan, given what they have done with Afghanistan," the diplomat said, commenting on criticism of the CSTO peacekeeping operation in Kazakhstan.

According to Zakharova, the West continues to call Russia an 'aggressor state', despite the fact that joint CSTO efforts made it possible to stop the bloodshed in Kazakhstan.

"Would you like (the West) to be pleased with how well-coordinated, precise, and lawful the actions of countries that are not part of their bloc are? Of course, they wouldn't do that, they would go out of their way to pretend that this whole story is illegitimate, illegal. That Russia is the aggressor once again," Zakharova criticized.

CSTO coalition security forces. (Source: CSTO)

"(It was) an operation that led to the stabilization of the situation (in Kazakhstan), in particular, it was possible to stop the bloodshed, which, unfortunately, caused a large number of casualties," she said.

As previously reported, Zakharova said some representatives of the United States (US) did not understand what was happening in Kazakhstan and took it as Washington's official position.

The diplomat commented on a statement by White House press secretary Jen Psaki that the United States had questions about the legality of the Kazakh authorities' request to use the powers of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) in the country.

"Everyone is used to the fact that some representatives of Washington do not understand everything, taking it as the position of the United States of America," Zakharova wrote on her Telegram channel.

The United States is closely monitoring reports of peacekeepers from the Russian-led CSTO deploying to Kazakhstan. And have questions about whether they were lawfully invited to the country.

"We are closely monitoring reports that the Collective Security Treaty Organization has sent its collective peacekeeping force to Kazakhstan," White House press secretary Jen Psaki said at a news conference last Thursday.

"We have questions about the nature of this request and whether it was a valid invitation or not. We don't know at this time," Psaki said.

For information, President Tokayev said the CSTO mission's legitimacy and duration were questioned by Washington and sparked an angry response from Moscow, totaling 2.030 troops and 250 military hardware.

On Tuesday, he said CSTO's main mission had been successfully completed. The coalition of forces will begin a gradual withdrawal within two days and be withdrawn altogether.