OREANDA-NEWS President of Kazakhstan Qasym-Jomart Toqaev said that the main reason for the start of protests in the republic was a strong stratification in income between rich and poor. The President called the situation in the country before the protests a «powder keg». According to him, this was used by the terrorists to destabilize the situation, the Telegram channel of the Tengrinews portal reports.

«The events that have taken place have exposed problems that have been accumulating for years... We need real reforms that meet the aspirations and interests of the citizens of Kazakhstan <...> We urgently need to start working together to reset economic policy. It is necessary to define new rules of the game: honest, transparent, fair», Toqaev said.

Earlier it was reported that Kazakhstan lifted the state of emergency throughout the country, which was introduced by President Qasym-Jomart Toqaev after the start of riots in the country. On January 2, mass protests began in Kazakhstan due to a sharp increase in prices for liquefied natural gas. Soon they turned into an armed rebellion centered in Alma-Ata. In the future, the chaos spread to other cities of Kazakhstan, in particular in Zhanaozen, Aktau and Pavlodar.