Israeli killed as East and West square up in Kazakhstan

Israeli regime's foreign ministry says an Israeli has been killed in the violent riots that have shaken Kazakhstan.

The 22-year-old was killed by gunfire in Almaty on Friday, the ministry said in a statement, adding he had been residing in Kazakhstan for the past few years.

Dozens of people have died and public buildings across Kazakhstan have been ransacked and torched over the past week in the worst violence experienced in the Central Asian nation since it became independent in the early 1990s as the Soviet Union collapsed.

The country is a major oil and uranium producer. Authorities have said the unrest is foreign-backed and aims to "undermine the security and integrity of the state by force, using trained and organized armed formations".

Israeli regime has a history of meddling in the Central Asia and the Caucasus in countries such as the Republic of Azerbaijan.

Kazakhstan is on the crossroads of China’s $1.5 trillion Belt and Road Initiative that has won over the support of developing countries all over the world, but ruffled feathers in the West which has been searching for an alternative.   

The Central Asian country is also part of the China-led eight-member bloc, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), which includes Iran, Russia, Indian and Pakistan.

On Friday, Chinese President Xi Jinping lent strong support to Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, saying he has taken decisive and effective actions at a critical moment to quickly calm the situation.

In a message to Tokayev, published by the Xinhua news agency, Xi said China strongly rejects any attempt by external forces to provoke unrest and instigate “color revolutions” in Kazakhstan “as well as any attempt to harm the friendship between China and Kazakhstan and disrupt the two countries’ cooperation”.

MG