Protests in Kazakhstan

1 Kazakhstan

Mass protests took place in the city of Zhanaozen, in the Mangistau region of Kazakhstan. The reason was a two-fold increase in the gas prices for cars on 1st of January. The protesters blocked traffic on the main street. Later, residents of the regional center, Aktau, organized same protests. The President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev wrote on Twitter that he instructed the government to swiftly investigate the situation while taking into account the economic feasibility. He urged the protesters to not violate the public order, and do not break the law. The members of the government commission met with the protesters. «At the meeting we stated the decisions that were made during the course of negotiations with the initiative group of the city of Aktau. Namely on reducing the cost of liquefied gas’’ — the press service of the Prime Minister reported.

2 Afghanistan — Turkmenistan

A firefight between the Taliban fighters and Turkmen border guards took place on the border of Afghanistan and Turkmenistan — the ’’Hasht-e-subh’’ newspaper reported. «3 days ago, Turkmen border guards killed 1 civilian, and beat an another.

The Taliban, an organization that is under UN sanctions for the terrorist activities, denied the reports of clashes with Turkmen border guards in north of Afghanistan — the Afghan Foreign Ministry spokesman, Abdul Kahar Balkhi, stated. The ANNA NEWS is monitoring the event.

4 The Red Sea

The «Ansar Allah» hi-jacked one UAE-flagged ship ’’Rwabee’’ in the Red Sea. It was taken to the port of Hodeidah, where the inspection of the ship took place. Rifles, body armor sets, ammo, and wheeled vehicles were found aboard the Saudi-chartered ship. All of this was for the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen. The crew of the vessel is on board. The rebels warn the Saudis against attempts to destroy the ship with air strikes. Saudi Arabia announced that the ship was transporting some property of a military hospital from Socotra Island. The trophies captured by the rebels refute these claims.

5 Iraq

Some UAVs attacked a US base at the Baghdad airport. The C-RAM air defense systems repelled the drone attack — 2 UAVs were destroyed. On the wings of one of the drones there was an inscription «Revenge for Soleimani». No organization took the responsibility for the attack, but supposedly the pro-Iranian Shiia groups are behind it. The attack took place on the 2nd anniversary of the death of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander, Qasem Soleimani. The Baghdad airport incident was the first attack on the US facilities in Iraq in 2022.

6 Russia — the USA — China — France — the UK

5 nuclear powers — Russia, the USA, China, France and the UK have signed a declaration of following of the principles of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and Mutual Non-Targeting of Missiles. The document notes that «There can be no winners in a nuclear war, and therefore such a war should never be unleashed». All available nuclear weapons, according to the 5 states, must serve only defensive purposes, and their further proliferation must be prevented, the document stated. Constantine Reztsov, specially for the ANNA NEWS.