Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has turned to the Collective Security Treaty Organization, led by Russia, for support amid protests that have swept the country. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, chairman of the CSTO, announced the start of consultations.

The founder and owner of one of Russia's largest online sellers of equipment , Holodilnik.ru, Valery Kovalev died at the age of 51, TASS reports with reference to the executive director of Wikimedia.ru and a little later confirmed by representatives of Holodilnik.ru . Kovalev was also known as one of the main authors of the Russian-language Wikipedia. According to the Wikinews resource, Kovalev died on the night of December 31, 2021; the cause of death has not been reported.

The Orda edition, citing eyewitnesses, reports that the Alma-Ata airport has been captured by demonstrators, employees are being evacuated there. The press service of the airport confirmed the capture. What's happened on the capture of Alma-Ata airport reports Orda.kz in its telegram channel (websites of most Kazakhstani media are inaccessible due to the country's Internet outages). “Now the airport security service told us: “Sorry, the airport is occupied .

In Kazakhstan, the fourth day is raging protests that reached their peak on January 5: the demonstrators captured the akimat Alma-Ata and the president’s residence, both buildings are burning. At night, the head of state Kasym-Zhomart Tokaev dismissed the government, and in the afternoon announced the departure of Nursultan Nazarbayev from his last state post of the Head of the Security Council.

Former President Nursultan Nazarbayev is stepping down as chairman of the Kazakhstan Security Council for life, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev announced in an emergency address to the nation. Tokayev himself will take this position. After that, of all the posts, Nazarbayev retained only membership in the Constitutional Council of Kazakhstan.

The Miro team collaboration platform with founders from Russia raised $400 million and reached a valuation of $17.5 billion. The investors were international funds that had previously invested in the Discord messenger and the Jira project management platform. Miro, a startup for remote team work founded by Russians (the old name is RealtimeBoard), closed the C round with a volume of $400 million. The total valuation of the company, thus, reached $17.5 billion.

The Japanese company Sony plans to develop and manufacture electric vehicles. The new division of Sony Mobility, which will be launched in the spring of 2022, will be responsible for this direction. Sony CEO Kenichiro Yoshida spoke about the company's plans to enter the electric car market at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) technology conference in Las Vegas. “We are considering launching the commercial production of Sony electric vehicles,” Yoshida was quoted as saying by The Verge.

Protesters in Alma-Ata on the afternoon of January 5 broke into the building of the akimat (administration) of the city. About 10 thousand people gathered on the square near the akimat. The first floor of the building is on fire. The security forces are trying to hold back the crowd with stun grenades, but there have also been cases of them going over to the side of the protesters.

Against the backdrop of mass protests that began due to growth in fuel prices, the President of Kazakhstan Kasym-Zhomart Tokaev resigned the government. The protests continue: at night in Alma-Ata, the protesters were able to break through to the city hall building for a while, were pushed out, and now they are again trying to get to the city center. In the Almaty and Mangistau regions, a state of emergency and a commandant hour have been introduced.