Caspian Weekly - With highly possible chances of renewed political instability in Kyrgyz Republic, Central Asian nation of Kyrgyzstan seems yet not through over April 2010 coup d'etat followed by months of violent turbulence in the country. Massive tragedy with Kyrgyz and ethnic Uzbeks in the South has left extremely deep scars on the nation as country is still struggling to overcome the aftermath of the deadly ethnic conflict in June 2010. The result of political change in Bishkek did however produce more evidence of Russia's aggressive meddling in Kyrgyz political process as it has not been seen in the course of the last two decades throughout the region. On the flip side not every scholar shares such notion entirely although the Kremlin's actions draw certain pattern of interference in Kyrgyzstan. What we see in Bishkek is a quite sophisticated strategy managed by Russian officials that required broad use of Russia's intelligence services and economic pressure along with brilliantly orchestrated media coverage of Russia's state controlled TV channels against Bakiyev regime. Between ups and downs, Russian media continues to be a dominated “soft power” branch of Moscow's foreign policy in CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) republics.(1)
The question arises on complexity of interconnection between Moscow and Bishkek in the backdrop of the recent development in the country. Skepticism of some western analysts on the Kremlin's role in April upheaval barely reflects the picture on the ground while Moscow's close ties with Kyrgyz political establishment explains high efficiency of Russia's projects in the country. In February 2011, Moscow's newspaper Rosbalt broke the story of the scandalous resignation of FSB (Russian Intelligence Service) deputy chief, General Ushakov who was in charge of the “Kyrgyz” project in Central Asia.(2)
