Share :

Download PDF :

The Diplomat (10 August 2021)

Catherine Putz

After a week in Kyrgyzstan, the country’s first (and first ousted) president returned to Russia. Askar Akayev, who ruled Kyrgyzstan from 1990 to 2005, made a surprise return to the country in early August for the first time since being overthrown. Akayev flew from Moscow to Bishkek on August 2 to cooperate with the Kyrgyz government’s investigation into the Kumtor Gold Mine.

In early July, the head of Kyrgyzstan’s State Committee for National Security (SCNS), Kamchybek Tashiev, said that the government had added Akayev and Kyrgyzstan’s other exiled ousted president, Kurmanbek Bakiyev, to the growing list of wanted persons in connection to corruption at mine. 

Akayev issued a video statement on August 8 in which he asked the Kyrgyz people for forgiveness.

Click for more