Kyrgyzstan’s Ambassador recalled from Minsk

The Ambassador of Kyrgyzstan has temporarily been recalled to Bishkek after the Belarusian diplomats left the country.

The embassy staff asks journalists to regard the ambassador’s departure as a sort business trip.

The embassy continues to work as before. The staff says Kyrgyzstan won’t take any steps in connection with recalling Belarusian diplomatic mission from Bishkek and states this decision was an internal affair of Belarus.

On May 13, all Belarusian diplomats accredited in Kyrgyzstan left the country’s capital for safety reasons, Belarusian MFA spokesman Andrei Savinykh told.

According to him, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Belarus to Kyrgyzstan Viktar Dzenisenka was “recalled to Minsk for consultations. The Embassy staff was sent back to the Foreign Ministry of Belarus.” The diplomat said the departure of the Belarusian diplomats from Kyrgyzstan was a forced measure and was temporary. As said by him, “We made that step due to the threat to lives of the Embassy staff. This threat is posed by extremist groups which are out of any kind of control.”

As charter97.org website informed earlier, Kurmanbek Bakiyev has been in Belarus since April 19. It was a personal decision of Alyaksandr Lukashenka to give him political asylum. This action caused protest of the people of Kyrgyzstan and families of the demonstrators killed on an order of Bakiyev. The embassy of Belarus in Bishkek is often picketed. New Kyrgyz authorities demand extradition of Bakiyev to his homeland, but the Belarusian authorities refuse.