Kyrgyzstan's peacekeeping troops return from their mission in Kazakhstan to their permanent deployment point in the city of Tokmok, near the Kazakh border. The decision to dispatch troops to quell protests that turned into unprecedented violence in the Central Asian country was a first for the Moscow-led Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO), an alliance of ex-Soviet states often touted by Russia as a NATO equivalent, following an urgent plea from Kazakhstan's leadership. IMAGES