Too late for unification but Kyrgyz president can give it a try - Atambayev
BISHKEK. July 25 (Interfax) - Russian President Vladimir Putin did not interfere in the internal affairs of Kyrgyzstan by remarking on its political situation, the country's ex-president Almazbek Atambayev said.
"This does not amount to interference in Kyrgyz affairs. It is a concern, an alarm about the situation in Kyrgyzstan, about where we are going to. [Putin] said clearly: you don't need a third revolution. Together we discussed this topic, I said that, after all, I saw two revolutions in Kyrgyzstan, all revolutions are done by authorities," Atambayev told journalists, commenting on Putin's remarks.
At the same time, he noted that Putin's saying that Kyrgyzstanis should unite around their current president, Sooronbay Jeenbekov, was just a "wish."
"I said to Vladimir Putin that that time - the time for unification - is gone, but Sooronbay Jeenbekov can give it a try," Atambayev said, adding that, "even if the respected Vladimir Putin, or [U.S. President] Donald Trump for example, speak of the need for unification, everything must happen in due course."
"It was a wonderful country 20 months ago, today we see where the country is going to, because the current authorities, instead of working, are mired in political intrigues and arranging 'cozy jobs' for their relations," Atambayev said.
"To me, Vladimir Putin is not just president of Russia. He is also someone close to me, and he already invited me several times and now created all conditions for [my] trip, sent a plane, how could I not go," Atambayev said.
Yesterday Putin said that he had met with the former Kyrgyz president at the Kremlin and the two discussed the situation in the republic and the region. Putin said that Kyrgyzstan needed political stability and that its people must unite around their current leader.