Yesterday, Russia resumed fuel and lubricant supplies to Kyrgyzstan. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin took this decision following talks with his Kyrgyz counterpart Almazbek Atambayev, who arrived in Moscow on July 20. Experts say that the petrol crisis has political roots. Should the fuel and lubricant problem be successfully resolved before the elections on October 30, it will considerably improve Atambayev's chances of winning.
Almazbek Atambayev returned to Bishkek with agreements that will see the interrupted supply of Russian fuel and lubricant to Kyrgyzstan. Yet this solution is only temporary, according to Ravshan Dzheyenbekov, a parliamentary opposition leader. "As long as we fail to resolve the issues of diversifying fuel and lubricant supplies to Kyrgyzstan and some companies' monopoly of the fuel sector persists, the problem will remain," Dzheyenbekov said.
This was not the first visit of Kyrgyz prime minister to Moscow. During talks with Putin, Atambayev thanked him for repealing export duties last year and said it was a New Year present, which has given "hope that the economy will grow better until the end of this year." Putin said, "In my view, it is not a present, it is an element of support and it creates the conditions necessary for expanding our cooperation in basic areas." Putin proposed to look into the situation with former agreements on energy, agriculture, military and technical cooperation. "It is very good that we can discuss our further advance in these areas," RIA Novosti quotes Putin as saying.
Experts say it is high time to pay the bills. "But reviewing all our obligations will cause problems for Kyrgyzstan. That is because our government has not met its obligations. For instance, Kyrgyzstan has not turned over Dastan factory shares to Russia, the issue has not been resolved. That is because the sides have not been able to reach an agreement on writing off the state debt in exchange for Dastan. The creation of a military base in the south of Kyrgyzstan is also under question. It is possible that the issues surrounding the US Transit Center at Manas International Airport in Kyrgyzstan have been discussed behind the scenes. The same is true of Kyrgyzstan's accession to the Customs Union," Ravshan Dzheyenbekov said. That is because Atambayev is not an independent politician, he said.
"The petrol crisis was manufactured – that's the opinion in Kyrgyzstan. People are irritated and question whether it was a commercial issue or political. Atambayev's visit to Moscow shows that there is definitely a political element," Sergei Malashenko with the Carnegie Moscow Centre told Nezavisimaya Gazeta via telephone from Kyrgyzstan. He explains this by citing that Almazek Atambayev will stand for president in the upcoming election. Although he has not announced his candidacy, he is considered to be the likely winner. "A few people say he will win outright in the first round of voting, but most people are predicting a second round win," Malashenko said. Atambayev wished to demonstrate that he had Russia's backing, he said. The prime minister openly relies on Russia; he does not feel uncomfortable about it and is even proud of it.
"Atambayev's most significant visit to Moscow came during Kyrgyzstan's parliamentary campaign and it made it possible for him to convince the voters of his Social Democratic Party that he had the support of the most influential politician of the Russian political establishment, Vladimir Putin," the expert said.
Viktoria Panfilova