April 14 2010
Kyrgyzstan could be "second Afghanistan" - Medvedev
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Kyrgyzstan stands on the brink of civil war and threatens to become a "second Afghanistan," Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Tuesday.
"As I understand it, Kyrgyzstan is on the verge of civil war," Medvedev told an audience at a think tank in Washington, where he was attending the global nuclear security summit.
Medvedev said there was a real risk Kyrgyzstan could split in two as tensions persist after an uprising last week that ousted President Kurmanbek Bakiyev and installed an interim government.
"Our task is to help the Kyrygz people find a calm way out of this crisis," Medvedev said, suggesting Bakiyev should formally step down to defuse a crisis he said could develop into a "second Afghanistan".
"Certain political figures should take responsible decisions," Medvedev said in his remarks at the Brookings Institution.
Bakiyev said on Tuesday he might resign if the interim government guaranteed his safety and calmed the turmoil following the revolt against his five-year rule in the central Asian country, which plays host to a U.S. air base key to the war in Afghanistan.
Since fleeing the capital after troops fired on demonstrators in an uprising last Wednesday that brought his opponents to power, Bakiyev had warned of a blood bath, refused to resign and tried to rally followers in his southern stronghold.
The self-proclaimed government headed by Roza Otunbayeva has said Russia is its key ally, casting doubts over the future of the U.S.-leased Manas air base -- long a subject of Russian objections.
Medvedev suggested that Russia was not behind any plot to oust the U.S. base.
"When I met with President Bakiyev, I always told him it is necessary to help our American partners in solving problems in Afghanistan -- the question is how to give this help, how effective it is," Medvedev said.
The Russian president added any decision on the future base would be that of Kyrgyzstan alone.
"How could Russia come to oppose the sovereign decision of another state? It is their decision whether we like it or not," he said.
Reporting by Steve Gutterman; Writing by Andrew Quinn; Editing by Peter Cooney
Source: Reuters