WASHINGTON, May 28 (RIA Novosti, Arkady Orlov) - It is up to Uzbekistan to decide on international investigation of the May 13 events in Andizhan (Uzbekistan), said Russia's Foreign Ministry."It is an internal and serious matter. Of course, the Uzbek government must decide how the investigation should be conducted," Sergei Kislyak, Russia's deputy foreign minister, told reporters in Washington on Friday after a session of the Russian-US working group for terrorism he co-chairs."The Uzbek government should decide whether it wants international assistance or not," he said. The US co-chairman of the group, US Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns said Washington continued to insist on international investigation.
The US deems it necessary for the Uzbek government to opt for international investigation, which will examine [the authorities'] behavior during the Andizhan riots and look into human rights advocates' accusations of the use of force by the security services, said Burns.
The under secretary of state confirmed that the US concurred with the Russian side in admitting the threat of terrorism in the region and in Uzbekistan in particular.
Our countries are certainly concerned over terrorist groups in Central Asia - they do exist, Burns said.
On May 13, a series of terrorist attacks and criminal assaults were committed in the Andizhan region (in the Fergana Valley bordering on Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan), leading to human victims. Uzbek prosecutors launched an inquiry, in accordance with the Uzbek criminal code, for terrorism, challenging the Uzbek constitutional system, public unrest, hostage-taking and other crimes.
According to the prosecutors, 173 people died in the riots (human rights champions cite higher figures - up to 1,000), and 276 people were rushed to hospital.
For now, 470 out of the 527 prisoners and suspected criminals who were illegally released from the Andizhan jail during the May 13 insurgency, have given themselves up, and 15 people have been put back to prison by force. The search for the others is continuing.
According to Uzbek President Karimov who turned down the UN and the OSCE offer to conduct independent international investigation, extremist groups from the local Akramiya branch of the Islamic Liberation Party (Hizb-ut-Tahrir) terrorist network are behind the Andizhan events.
