BISHKEK – Russia told its military to protect ethnic Russians in Kyrgyzstan yesterday as the country’s interim leaders struggled to restore order after a violent uprising that ousted the president.
Russian president Dmitry Medvedev issued the order after looters attacked Russian and Meskhetian Turkish villagers on the outskirts of the capital, Bishkek, in violence that killed five people as night fell on Monday.
Interim rulers who seized control after the April 7th overthrow of Kyrgyzstan’s president, Kurmanbek Bakiyev, are facing lawlessness around Bishkek and resistance from those loyal to Mr Bakiyev in the south.
Russia and the US operate military bases in the impoverished country of 5.3 million, and the unrest has already disrupted operations at the US Manas air base supplying troops in Afghanistan.
“President Medvedev gave an order to defence minister Anatoly Serdyukov to take measures to ensure the security of Russian citizens in Kyrgyzstan,” a Kremlin spokesman said.
The spokesman said the measures would include increased security for Russian interests in the country, where vigilantes have been roaming Bishkek.
It was unclear what specific steps the defence ministry might take, but it appeared likely to involve the small Russian base in northern Kyrgyzstan, currently manned by some 500 servicemen.
The interim government said interim leader Roza Otunbayeva spoke on the phone with the head of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation, a Russian-dominated military alliance of former Soviet republics, earlier in the day.
“There was no discussion of any military intervention,” said Edil Baisalov, an interim government official. “The interim government is fully in control of the security situation.”
The Kremlin sent some 150 paratroopers to Kyrgyzstan immediately after the April 7th uprising – in which at least 85 people died – to protect personnel at Russia’s Kant air base.
Belarus said yesterday that Mr Bakiyev was now in Minsk, having fled to Kazakhstan last week.
The latest attacks, mainly against Meskhetian Turks, have raised the spectre of ethnic violence in the Muslim nation. – (Reuters)