Full-fledged economic cooperation with Kyrgyzstan can only happen after it restores its state institutions, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Tuesday.
Large-scale anti-government protests swept Kyrgyzstan on April 6-7, claiming the lives of at least 80 people and leading to the overthrow of President Kurmanbek Bakiyev. The self-declared interim government urgently needs funds and fuel to normalize conditions in the impoverished Central Asian republic.
"Russia has given humanitarian aid to Kyrgyzstan, but full-fledged economic cooperation is possible only after the institutions of state are restored," Medvedev said at a news conference with his Uzbek counterpart, Islam Karimov.
The Russian government has already expressed readiness to provide aid to Kyrgyzstan's interim government. Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said on Wednesday Russia would give Kyrgyzstan a $20 mln grant and a $30 mln concessional loan to help stabilize the economic situation in the ex-Soviet republic after the recent riots.
Medvedev said that the most important task now for Kyrgyzstan is "to revive the government."
"The government is deposed at the moment, it does not exist. We count on the interim government to take all the necessary and appropriate measures, otherwise the anarchy will deliver a blow on the people of Kyrgyzstan as well as on its neighbors," Medvedev said.
A new wave of unrest engulfed Bishkek's northern suburbs on Monday morning, when some 2,000 people armed with sticks set several cars on fire and threw rocks at houses in nearby villages.
The rioters went on a rampage after they tried to seize some 700 hectares of land outside the capital, saying it was theirs to build houses on, but the villagers drove them away.
The village of Mayevka, to the north of Bishkek, bore the brunt of the violence on Monday, with rioters burning buildings, throwing rocks at villagers' houses and pillaging private property.
According to the Kyrgyz Health Ministry, five people were killed and at least 30 injured overnight in the Mayevka village violence.
MOSCOW, April 20 (RIA Novosti)
