Putin Loses Another Ally As Ex-Soviet Dominoes Go Down

BRUSSELS, Belgium -- Russian President Vladimir Putin has lost another ally in the uprising in Kyrgyzstan, the latest ex-Soviet government brought down by people power after Georgia and Ukraine, press commentators said on Friday.

"Putin is losing his mates," said the French daily Liberation after the mostly peaceful ouster of President Askar Akayev by the masses in Bishkek infast-moving events Thursday.


Russian President Vladimir Putin
"A domino effect in Moscow’s backyard," was how Austria’s Die Press described the uprising, which followed the change of government in Georgia in late 2003 and Ukraine’s Orange Revolution at the end of last year.

The Russian president on Friday blasted as "illegitimate" the change of power in Kyrgyzstan, where parliament appointed opposition leader Kurmanbek Bakiyev acting head of state.

Bakiyev immediately announced plans for fresh elections in June following the Kyrgyz uprising, which like in its fellow ex-Soviet states was triggered by contested elections.

In Spain, the El Pais daily agreed that the events in Bishkek, like those in Tbilisi and Kiev before them were "a serious warning to Putin."

"The democratic tide which swept first through Georgia and more recently in Ukraine seems able to reach to the furthest corners of the former Soviet Union," said the centre-left newspaper.

The domino metaphor was used by many newspapers, including in Britain where the Independent commented that "Russia and the US have already reached an apparently amicable agreement to share influence."

But the Times voiced another concern, the threat that Islamicist movements could exploit the political uncertainty.

The Daily Telegraph struck a more positive note, welcoming the fact that "the strengthening of Kyrgyz democracy will powerfully affect a region characterised by authoritarian leaders."

It cited Harvard expert Marshall Goldman as asking: "What could prevent opposition groups in neighbouring Uzbekistan or Kazakhstan doing the same, given that as regards democracy their situation is even worse?"

"The truth is that democracy is a contagious disease," he said.

"It is widely known that elections have been rigged in ex-Soviet republics at least since the middle of the 1990s. A protest movement was only a question of time," it said.

In Hungary, which like the Czech Republic is one of eight ex-communist countries, which joined the European Union last year, press reaction was equally unsurprised.

Meanwhile Kyrgyzstan’s deposed president Askar Akayev on Friday slammed the ouster of his regime as an "unconstitutional coup d’etat," Kyrgyz and Russian media reported.

"An unconstitutional coup d’etat has occurred in the republic. A group of irresponsible political conspirators embarked on the criminal path of grabbing power by force," Akayev said in a message sent to a Kyrgyz news agency." The rumours about my resignation are not true," he said.

Leaders of the opposition movement that has taken charge in Kyrgyzstan plan to hold a presidential election in June, a prominent opposition figure said on Friday.

European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana called on Friday on the people of Kyrgyzstan to refrain from violence and behave "responsibly," after the uprising, which ousted the president there.

Solana added that the EU would support efforts by the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to help restore calm in the ex-Soviet country.

Solana "strongly appealed to the people of Kyrgyzstan to behave responsibly, to ease restoration of law and order throughout the country and to refrain from violence and looting," said a statement issued by his office.

"The EU will continue to support the efforts of the OSCE mission in Bishkek," it added.

Turkey on Friday sent an official delegation to Kyrgyzstan to convey appeals for moderation amid the turmoil in the country, officials said.

The delegation, led by Metin Goker, a senior diplomat who served as Turkey’s ambassador to Kyrgyzstan in the 1990s, flew on a plane that will also evacuate Turkish nationals from the Central Asian nation, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul told reporters.

The minister said the delegation’s schedule was not immediately clear, but added that it would meet with people "who carry weight" in the country, where the opposition toppled the regime of president Askar Akayev.