Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed victory on Monday in defending Kazakhstan from what he described as a foreign-backed terrorist uprising and promised leaders of other ex-Soviet states that a Moscow-led alliance would protect them too. Kazakhstan’s biggest city Almaty returned to near-normal on Monday after nearly a week of unrest, by far the worst violence in the 30-year independent history of what had been the most stable former Soviet state in Central Asia. Cleaners were removing debris from streets still littered with burnt-out cars. Most shops reopened, public transport and regular traffic returned, and the internet was switched back on for several hours in the city, for the first time since last Wednesday. The square near the mayor’s office, burnt out during the uprising, was firmly held by the security forces and closed to the public. Police searched cars at checkpoints. Putin sent paratroopers […]