Ousted Kyrgyz leader in Russia

2005-03-26 11:27

Moscow - Kyrgyzstan's ousted President Askar Akayev is in Russia, where he arrived on Friday night, the Interfax news agency reported on Saturday.

The agency, citing informed sources in Moscow, said that Akayev had arrived from Kazakhstan.

"Akayev flew in from Kazakhstan yesterday night," it quoted one of the sources as saying.

The Kyrgyz embassy in Moscow said it had no information on the ousted leader's whereabouts. The Russian foreign ministry refused to comment.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday said that Moscow would not object if Akayev wanted to come to Russia.

Akayev's whereabouts have remained a mystery, although a statement purportedly from him released on Friday said he was out of the country only temporarily, denied he had resigned and denounced what he called the opposition's "unconstitutional coup d'etat".

The fall of the longtime leader's government came swiftly on Thursday after weeks of intensifying protests in the south, propelled by widespread anger over disputed parliamentary elections in late February and early March.

Akayev's wife, Mairam, confirmed that her husband fled Bishkek as protesters began to storm the government building, Russia's Rossiyskaya Gazeta reported on Saturday. The paper, which did not say where she was, quoted her as saying that Akayev left "by agreement with the European community", but she did not elaborate.

"We are safe, but the country is dying," she said.

- AP