MINSK — Kyrgyzstan's deposed president, Kurmanbek Bakiyev, said Friday that Russian anger over his decision to keep a U.S. air base was a factor in his overthrow earlier this month.
Speaking fr om Minsk, wh ere he fled following the April 7 revolt against his five-year rule, Bakiyev said he had no plans to return and lead Kyrgyzstan.
Asked about speculation that Moscow may have played a role in the uprising, Bakiyev said President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin had been unhappy at his decision in 2009 to extend the lease on the U.S. base.
"They told me: 'Why are you holding on to this Manas base, this worries us, this does not suit us,'" Bakiyev said at a news conference. "Russia's leadership was irritated, annoyed by the presence of the base, and this factor also played a certain role."
Bakiyev said Russian special forces may not have been directly involved in the revolt, but he accused the Kremlin of meddling in Kyrgyzstan.
"Just like when the Soviet Union was still alive, everything still remains the same — Moscow would decide everything for us, despite our 20 years of independence," Bakiyev said.
Russia and the United States both operate military bases in the impoverished country of 5.3 million people, and the unrest has already disrupted operations at Manas, which supplies troops in Afghanistan.
Suspicions that the Kremlin had a hand in the unrest were raised when Putin became the first world leader to recognize the new government by phoning interim leader Roza Otunbayeva just hours after she took power.
Putin has denied any Russian involvement, though Moscow has long dreamed of evicting the United States from Central Asia.
Bakiyev said Putin and Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev had convinced him to flee Kyrgyzstan to avert a civil war.
"When Putin and Nazarbayev telephoned me, I said: 'I do not need a civil war here. What for? To hold on to this presidential chair and spill a sea of blood?' And so I said: 'I accept your offer, I will leave the country'," Bakiyev said.
Russian officials say Bakiyev betrayed Moscow last year by agreeing to close the U.S. base after securing at least $2 billion in aid and loans only to let Washington keep the lease, albeit at a higher price.
Bakiyev said Russia and Central Asian neighbors rushed to offer their own airfields and transport corridors to the U.S.-led forces after he announced plans to close the base.
Kyrgyzstan's new rulers say a final decision on the U.S. base is unlikely to be made until after an Oct. 10 election.
Asked how long he planned to remain in Minsk, Bakiyev said he had no plans to form a government in exile, but suggested that he felt comfortable staying in Minsk. Bakiyev said he had no plans to apply for political asylum, but said he was grateful to Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko for treating him like a president.
"I do not intend to return to Kyrgyzstan as president," Bakiyev said. "Alexander Grigoryevich [Lukashenko] treats me as president. … I am very grateful to him for this."
Earlier in the week, Bakiyev told Russian weekly magazine Russky Reporter that he planned to open a toy factory in Minsk.
Bakiyev also said one of his brothers has been kidnapped and that authorities were seeking to prosecute other members of his extended family. Some in Bakiyev's close circle have fled to Kazakhstan, and authorities have voiced hope that Kazakh authorities would hand them over.
Kyrgyzstan's interim government accuses Bakiyev's brother Zhanybek, chief of the presidential guards, of issuing the order to fire at protesters in Bishkek.
(Reuters, AP)