MOSCOW, January 5. /TASS/. Security at the main facilities of the Baikonur spaceport has been tightened and branches of Roscosmos companies are operating normally, said the head of the Russian space company, Dmitry Rogozin.
“Today was calm in Baikonur. The branches of Roscosmos enterprises, law enforcement agencies, municipal services and organizations are functioning normally. The crisis center set up at the Baikonur administration fully controls the situation in the city. Armed security at the cosmodrome key facilities have been strengthened,” Rogozin wrote on his Telegram channel.
Earlier, the Roscosmos press service told reporters that law enforcement in Baikonur, a city in Kazakhstan leased by Russia and which hosts the Russian spaceport, was operating normally and the situation was calm.
Protests in Kazakhstan, which began on January 2 in response to a spike in liquefied petroleum gas prices, turned into serious riots on the fourth day. Almaty, the largest city in the country, was the epicenter. According to President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, terrorist gangs seized the airport and five airliners, including foreign planes. Previously, Tokayev had dismissed the government. Amid the riots, he replaced the republic’s first president, Nursultan Nazarbayev, as head of the Security Council and promised tough action.
A state of emergency has been declared across Kazakhstan, the Mir-24 television channel reported on Wednesday. According to the Habar-24 television channel, the state of emergency will remain in effect until January 19. Previously, Tokayev had imposed a two-week state of emergency in the Mangystau region and in the Almaty region, as well as in the largest city of the republic. Almaty and the capital Nur-Sultan.
