Bakiyev Asks CSTO via Lukashenka to Bring Troops into Kyrgyzstan

The Belarusian president continues the "battle of Bishkek" being its single participant.

Alyaksandr Lukashenka said yesterday in Minsk at a meeting with governor of the Russian Kurgan region Oleg Bogomolov that all head of states signed a document at an informal CSTO (Cooperation and Security Treaty Organization) summit in Moscow on May 8 saying the recent change of power in Kyrgyzstan was a coup. The Belarusian ruler emphasized he had spoken about that the day after the events in Kyrgyzstan. Lukashenka added that the statement following the CSTO summit was "written in the Russian language, all member states signed it was an unconstitutional takeover," the newspaper "Vremya Novostei" informs.

However, the version spread by the Kremlin press service mentions neither a "coup" nor "unconstitutional takeover". The document just says about the events in the Republic of Kyrgyzstan in April 2010 that led to the "unconstitutional change of power". The Belarusian ruler is apparently quoting another variant of the CSTO statement.

However, it’s possible to understand the Belarusian president . For mysterious reasons, he associates the events happening in authoritarian countries with the events in his country. He doesn’t see significant difference between a change of power and a coup – in any case an authoritarian ruler loses his power, which is unpleasant…

"What to my position on Bakiyev," Alyaksandr Lukashenka continued to demonstrate his humanitarian views to the Kurgan region governor, "everybody, without exceptions, recognized that it was a gesture on the part of the Belarusian president, that the president did the right thing." The ruler warned in a menacing tone: "There is no need for making insinuations. If somebody is ready to claim anything different, I will get the verbatim published then."

It is unknown what forced Lukashenka make such furious threats to publicity and disclose talks on the sidelines of the CSTO summit as well as whom he asked to restrain from insinuations. It was most likely be a rhetoric trick aimed at making his human rights activity towards the ousted Kyrgyz president convincing. The Belarusian ruler has no right to publish the verbatim without the consent of all presidents of the CSTO member states.

Moreover, the verbatim doesn’t seem to make a sensation. Except, perhaps, the statement signed by ex-president of Kyrgyzstan and taken to the summit by Alyaksandr Lukashenka. As "Vremya Novostei" has learnt from its sources, the statement says that Kurmanbek Bakiyev, who received political shelter in Belarus, put a question on bringing the CSTO military forces into Kyrgyzstan to normalize the situation in the country. The proposal seems to have been denied after ferocious debates. Instead, the summit adopted the statement, which the Belarusian president refers to. The key idea of the document is that the CSTO member states regard the events in Kyrgyzstan as an "internal affair" of the country.

Roza Otunbayeva, the head of the Kyrgyz interim government, said yesterday in southern capital of the republic Osh that her government would insist on extradition of Kurmanbek Bakiyev. According to her, all necessary documents had already been prepared. "The Belarus head Alyaksandr Lukashenka took Kurmanbek Bakiyev under his wings. I’d like to say that such actions exacerbate political situation in Belarus, where at the time the opposition is waking up actively and rigidly speaks out against the policy of Lukashenka," the news agency 24.kg quotes Otunbayeva. "I think he has only himself to blame for the current situation." Bishkek wouldn’t have showed such a strong rebuff to the Belarusian president, if the CSTO summit in Moscow had been held like Lukashenka describes it.