Kazakhstan authorities said on Sunday they had stabilised the situation across the country after the deadliest outbreak of violence in 30 years of independence, and troops from a Russian-led military alliance were guarding “strategic facilities”.

Security and intelligence officials briefed President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev that they were continuing “clean-up” actions in what he has called a huge counter-terrorism operation across the oil-producing former Soviet republic that borders Russia and China.

Dozens of people have been killed, thousands detained and public buildings torched over the past week, prompting Tokayev to issue shoot-to-kill orders to end unrest he has blamed on bandits and terrorists.

At Tokayev’s invitation, the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) sent troops to restore order, an intervention that comes at a time of high tension in Russia-US relations ahead of talks this week on the Ukraine crisis.

“A number of strategic facilities have been transferred under the protection of the united peacekeeping contingent of the CSTO member states,” the presidential office said in a statement detailing the security briefing chaired by Tokayev.

“The situation has been stabilised in all regions of the country,” it said, adding law enforcement agencies had seized back control of administrative buildings and vital services were being restored.

What began a week ago with demonstrations against a fuel price rise exploded into a wider protest against Tokayev’s government and the man he replaced as President of the resource-rich former Soviet republic, Nursultan Nazarbayev.

The administration said 5,800 people had been arrested in connection with the unrest. In Almaty, the biggest city where much of the violence was concentrated, normal life appeared to be returning on Sunday although with fewer cars than usual.

Security forces have set up checkpoints around the perimeter of the city. In the centre, smashed windows, gutted cash machines and torched buildings bore witness to the destruction.

The main Republic Square where the charred mayor’s office is located remained sealed off to the public. One road leading to it was cordoned off by police; another was blocked by a burnt-out bus. The Internet remained heavily restricted.