Kazakhstan government temporarily restores fuel price cap for 180 days amid violent unrest

After days of violent civilian unrest, Kazakhstan's government on Thursday announced that it is restoring vehicle fuel price caps for at least six months. The ex-soviet nation was rocked due to the riots and sporadic demonstrations that reached the main city Almaty over the fuel price hike as most citizens, over recent years, converted their cars to LPG deemed cheaper than the gasoline as a vehicle fuel, according to several reports.

Emergency was declared across several key regions including Mangystau, which accounts for nearly 25% of Kazakhstan’s total oil production, S&P Global Platts estimated. 16,000 citizens protested in Aktau, the resource-rich province. Despite the fact that the ex-soviet nation is the second-largest non-OPEC crude producer in the OPEC+ group, the fuel price inflation was spurred due to the government’s, what the protesters labelled, ‘reckless policies’.  

In this image taken from footage provided by the RU-RTR Russian television, Russian peacekeepers exit a Russian military plane in an airport in Kazakhstan. [Credit: AP]

The fuel prices in the nation shot overnight after the Kazakh government lifted the price caps on January 1. Kazakh citizens, including the radicals and the extremists, flooded the streets demanding the change of policy, while the latter ransacked businesses, torched government administrative buildings, and attacked the military forces, prompting the government to resort to curfews and declaring a state of emergency for over two weeks.

Dozens of protestors arrested

In the country’s largest city, Almaty, a mob hurtled the fire, opened live ammunition, and thrashed the police officers, who responded with tear gas, stun grenades at crowds of thousands of people that refused to budge. Angry citizens set the police cars ablaze in dissent to Kazakhstan’s authoritarian rule, forcing the cabinet to dissolve in the oil-rich Central Asian country.

Police cordoned off the main square in Almaty as violence escalated. Dozens of protesters were arbitrarily detained and the mobile internet was snapped throughout the country. The Russia-led military alliance said yesterday that it was dispatching peacekeeping forces to Kazakhstan after the country’s president Kassym-Jomart Tokayev asked for help, Associated Press reported. Kazakh Interior Ministry said eight police officers and national guard members were killed in the violence. 

“Dear compatriots, I urge you to show prudence and not succumb to provocations from within and from without, to the euphoria of rallies and permissiveness,” President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said in a video address backing his country’s military forces, eight of whom died in the violence.

In this photo taken from video released by the Russian Defense Ministry Press Service, military vehicles of Russian peacekeepers parked to be uploaded on Russian military planes at an airfield outside Moscow, in Russia to fly to Kazakhstan. [Credit: AP]

At least 317 officers have been injured so far. “Calls to attack civilian and military offices are completely illegal. This is a crime that comes with a punishment,” he reiterated in his broadcast message aired on the government’s official social media handles. In another update on the President’s website, Tokayev announced the resignation of the Kazakh government. 

Riot police walk to block demonstrators gathering during a protest in Almaty, Kazakhstan. [Credit: AP]

Temporary price controls for LPG retired for 180 days

President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, though, made an announcement on Jan. 5 that he was restoring the temporary price controls for LPG for at least 180 days. Price control will be introduced for both gasoline and diesel, a statement on the president's website read. Tokayev stressed that the maximum prices on the LPG prices were not expected to rise by the end of 2021, quickly adding that his energy ministry was unable to respond to LPG price hikes in the given short period of time. 

"During this period, the regulatory framework should be carefully prepared, the transparent operation of trading platforms should be ensured, and mechanisms to limit the sharp rise in prices should be introduced," he said in the statement on the website. Furthermore in his statement, Tokayev stated, "We cannot do without systemic, but thoughtful and gradual reforms. It is necessary to carry out a quality reset of the gas industry, to ensure full loading of commercial gas on the domestic market." 

A session of the Security Council was held in Akorda Palace where the main agenda of the discussion was the unrest and issues related to combating criminal and terror elements that have destabilised the law and order in Kazakhstan. Kazakh President Tokayev stressed the complexity of the current situation and pointed out the need to take a number of urgent measures. He called the elements behind the civilian unrest as "terrorists" as he stressed the need of conducting a counter-terrorist operation on the protesters. 

"They [protesters] are seizing infrastructure buildings and premises where small arms are located. Currently, there is a battle near Almaty with airborne units of the Defense Ministry,” the Head of State said in the government's release on Jan 6.