Medvedev backs new Kyrgyz president
16:01 05/07/2010
ASTANA, July 5 (RIA Novosti) - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Monday pledged support for Kyrgyzstan's new president, Roza Otunbayeva, and said he hoped she would be able to overcome all of the country's difficulties.
"I hope that under your leadership Kyrgyzstan will be able to achieve successes...and overcome the difficulties, and this will help rally the nation," Medvedev said during a meeting with Otunbayeva.
"In this respect you can always rely on the Russian people and the Russian state," he said.
On Saturday Otunbayeva was sworn in as president for a transitional period until December 31, 2011, after a new constitution was approved by a national referendum on June 27.
Otunbayeva said she could not rule out a fresh wave of instability in the former Soviet republic.
"At present there is a relative calm, but we are prepared for new outbreaks," she said.
Inter-ethnic clashes in the south of the Central Asian state claimed the lives of more than 280 people, according to government figures, and made thousand homeless. However, Kyrgyz officials acknowledge that the true death toll may be 10 times higher.
Otunbayeva, who came to power amid large-scale opposition protests that overturned president Kurmanbek Bakiyev in April, said on Saturday that Kyrgyzstan was going through "one of the most dramatic periods in its history."
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
