but what has actually sparked these protests? kazakhstan is a country as vast as the whole of western europe and has two very powerful neighbours russia and china. on paper it s a rich country it has 3% of the world s oil reserves and important coal and gas sectors. but that wealth is not shared equally. in 2019 demonstrations toppled the country s long time president nazarbayev who was accused of corruption but he was replaced by a close ally. and recently fuel prices have doubled in the west of the country sparking these latest protests. here s erica marat from the college of international security affairs. for some people it is mostly economic. it s about demanding a better life, betterjobs, better earning and some
aggression. by labelling it a foreign aggression the presidentjustified his request for russia s assistance. moscow has already deployed what it called a peace keeping mission to the country on the basis of the collective security treaty organization the treaty is a military alliance between russia, kazakhstan, belarus, tajikistan, kyrgyzstan and armenia. but what has actually sparked these protests? kaza khsta n is a country as vast as the whole of western europe and has two very powerful neighbours: russia and china. on paper it s a rich country it has 3 percent of the world s oil reserves and important coal and gas sectors. but that wealth is not shared equally. in 2019 demonstrations toppled the country s long time president nazarbayev who was accused of corruption but he was replaced by a close ally. and recently fuel prices have doubled in the west of the country sparking these latest protests. here s erica marat from the college of international security affa