Word: kyrgyz
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...remains unclear how much resistance Bakiyev will be able to muster. Alleged eyewitness reports posted on Kyrgyz Internet forums claim that Bakiyev travels around the south with an entourage of 20 bodyguards, while his home is surrounded by about 500 heavily armed men. Still, he admitted to the BBC on Saturday that he has "no real levers of power." On Saturday, he called for the U.N. to send peacekeepers to Kyrgyzstan to prevent further bloodshed. But his calls for foreign help are likely to prove futile. Both Russia and the U.S. have promised aid to the government that toppled...
...kicking out the U.S. air base in the northern city of Manas, which is a vital transport link for America's war in nearby Afghanistan. About 50,000 coalition troops passed through it in March alone. On Saturday, Otunbayeva assured U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that the new Kyrgyz government would abide by previous agreements to let Manas operate. But the Russian government has lobbied hard to force Kyrgyzstan to evict it, with a senior Russian official telling reporters on April 8 that "in Kyrgyzstan, there should be only one base - Russian." Since last Wednesday's upheaval, operations...
...Kyrgyz opposition, meanwhile, took up the Russian cause in recent months, expressing deep concerns that Bakiyev's government was siding too closely with the Americans at the expense of traditional ties with Moscow. Otunbayeva was at the forefront of this initiative. In February, when she was still an opposition leader in the Kyrgyz parliament, she told Bakiyev's government that it "must not act the way it's acting toward Russia, which is our strategic partner and ally...
...heads the opposition Pensioners' Party of Kyrgyzstan. "Although the presence of a Russian military base in Kyrgyzstan is historically justified, the military presence of the U.S. and NATO countries is a threat to our national interests." In an indication of how comfortable Russia feels at its base in the Kyrgyz city of Kant, Russian President Dmitri Medvedev sent 150 paratroopers on Thursday to shore up the Russian forces there. The U.S., meanwhile, halted flights to its Kyrgyz base on Wednesday and Thursday. (Read a brief history of Kyrgyzstan...
...remains to be seen what shape Otunbayeva's foreign policy will take. In the past, the 53-year-old career diplomat has served as both a Soviet apparatchik in Moscow and a Kyrgyz ambassador to the U.S., Britain and Canada. While the country remains in a state of limbo, Otunbayeva and the other revolution leaders have tempered their pro-Russia rhetoric, focusing on the consolidation of power at home rather than jumping into foreign policy dilemmas. They've said the U.S. can continue operating its military base for now, and they've pledged to hold elections in six months, although...