Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and the U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that the forthcoming referendum on a new constitution in the ex-Soviet Central Asian republic of Kyrgyzstan will be important for stabilization of a situation in the country, Russian Foreign Ministry said.
The ministry said that the officials had a telephone conversation on Sunday.
"Exchanging opinions on a situation in Kyrgyzstan, Sergei Lavrov and Hillary Clinton stressed the importance of an upcoming on June 27 referendum on a draft of a new constitution for a stabilization of a situation in the country and its return to a legal framework," the ministry's statement said.
Lavrov and Clinton said that most efforts of the international community should be made to help Kyrgyzstan to overcome humanitarian consequences of the crisis, including coordination of the humanitarian assistance to the country.
On Saturday the United Nations launched an appeal to collect $71 million in aid for violence-hit Kyrgyzstan.
Earlier Kyrgyzstan's interim government asked Russia for peacekeeping assistance, but Russia said the situation did not suppose that Russia's armed forces could be used in the republic as "it is an internal conflict." Russia sent humanitarian aid and helped take out those injured.
Violent clashes between ethnic Kyrgyz and Uzbek groups in southern Kyrgyzstan broke out in the city of Osh on June 11 and then spread to the neighboring Jalalabad region, leaving nearly 200 dead and more than 2,000 injured according to official figures. Kyrgyz leaders admit that the real death toll could be 10 times higher.
Former Kyrgyz president Kurmanbek Bakiyev took refuge in Belarus after being deposed as a result of mass riots in April.
On Saturday Kyrgyz authorities extended the emergency situation in a number of districts in the Osh region of the Central Asian republic to June 25.
MOSCOW, June 20 (RIA Novosti)
