Russia-led alliance to send forces to unrest-hit Kazakhstan

Kazakh police fired tear gas and stun grenades to break up rare mass protests that began over fuel prices

A Russia-led military alliance said it would send peacekeeping forces to "stabilise" Kazakhstan, blaming mass protests that have plunged the ex-Soviet country into chaos on "outside interference".

The CSTO's chairman, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, then said on Facebook that the alliance would send "collective peacekeeping forces... for a limited period of time in order to stabilise and normalise the situation in this country" that was caused by "outside interference".