After Putin's decision, the new authorities of Kyrgyzstan swear allegiance to Russia
Kyrgyzstan, where the government recently changed due to street riots, is seeking to prove that Moscow remains Bishkek's main strategic partner.
Nezavisimaya Gazeta writes about this, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
The publication recalls that Russian President Vladimir Putin on October 15, after Sooronbai Jeenbekov announced his decision to resign as president, announced the suspension of Russian aid to Bishkek.
Advisor to the new Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan Kubatbek Rakhimov believes that Moscow did the right thing.
“The Russian Federation’s statement on the suspension of assistance was made in a timely manner. It cooled down the hottest heads, who realized that strategic partners take matters seriously and demand the same attitude towards themselves. This message was taken into account by all parties, including the team of the outgoing President Jeenbekov and the team of Sadyr Japarov [who had previously served time in a correctional colony and was released under pressure from the street] who replaced him,” Rakhimov told the newspaper.
According to him, from the first days Japarov indicated that Russia is a strategic partner of Kyrgyzstan and Bishkek will make every effort to bring them to at least the previous level and even deepen cooperation. It was also said that by appointing Artur Novikov to the post of First Deputy Prime Minister, Bishkek emphasized: the entire Kyrgyz economy and the processes of Eurasian integration are commanded by an ethnic Russian.
“A real disaster would be the cessation of funding through the Russian-Kyrgyz Development Fund - this is $500 million allocated by the Russian Federation for investment in various economic projects of the republic. Another $100 million was ready to be issued through the Fund for Stabilization and Development (FSD). This is a long-term loan at a very low interest rate and for a long period.
In addition, during the upcoming meeting of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov with his Kyrgyz counterpart Ruslan Kazakbaev, the resignation of the Ambassador of Kyrgyzstan to the Russian Federation, Alikbek Jeshenkulov.
“He was dismissed by the latest decree of ex-president Sooronbai Jeenbekov. The decision caused a negative reaction in Russia, since the ambassador enjoyed high authority and was a real defender of the interests of his citizens during the difficult period of the epidemic. Jeenbekov’s decision essentially cut off diplomatic channels of communication between Bishkek and Moscow. In Moscow, this personnel decision caused bewilderment: not a single leader of Kyrgyzstan has severed relations with its strategic ally so demonstratively,” Asilbek Egemberdiev, a Kyrgyz expert and editor-in-chief of the portal kginfo.ru, told NG.
He said that the Kyrgyz diaspora in Russia wrote an open letter addressed to Japarov, in which they ask to return Dzhekshenkulov to the post of head of the diplomatic mission in the Russian Federation.
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