U.S. closely monitoring deployment of troops from Russia-led security bloc in Kazakhstan -State Dept

The United States is closely monitoring reports that peacekeeping forces of the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organization have been deployed to Kazakhstan to put down a countrywide uprising, State Department spokesperson Ned Price said on Thursday.

The general secretary of the bloc told RIA news agency that the overall peacekeeping force would number about 2,500 and could be strengthened if necessary.

Washington would be watching for any violations of human rights and "any actions that may lay the predicate for the seizure of Kazakh institutions," Price added. (Reporting by Daphne Psaledakis, Caitlin Webber and Simon Lewis;)