YEREVAN, JANUARY 7, ARMENPRESS. The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) peacekeeping contingent is not participating in combat operations in Kazakhstan and is only involved in protecting state facilities, the Kazakh presidential administration’s first deputy chief of staff Dauren Abayev announced, according to TASS.

The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) deployed its peacekeeping forces to its member-state Kazakhstan to “stabilize and settle the situation” as the country is facing threats to its national security and sovereignty.

The decision on deploying the peacekeepers was made on January 6 by the CSTO Collective Security Council.

Military units from CSTO-members Armenia, Russia, Belarus, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan are involved in the mission.

The main mission of the peacekeepers in Kazakhstan will be “the protection of significant state and military facilities and supporting the Kazakhstani law enforcement agencies in stabilizing the situation and bringing it to a framework of law,” the CSTO said in a statement.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, who is now the Chairman of the CSTO Collective Security Council, announced earlier that the President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev invoked Article 4 of the treaty amid “threats to Kazakhstan’s national security and sovereignty which appeared including as a result of outside interference.”