Russia-led security bloc says peacekeepers have started Kazakhstan mission

Russian paratroopers have been deployed to Kazakhstan as part of a peacekeeping force that includes troops from four other former Soviet republics, the secretariat of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) said on Thursday.

The deployment came in response to an appeal from the president of Kazakhstan to help stabilize the Central Asian country amid a wave of protests sparked by a fuel price rise.

The secretariat said the peacekeepers' main tasks would be to protect important state and military facilities and help the Kazakh law and order forces.