Putin thanks Atambayev for supporting Russian language in Kyrgyzstan
MOSCOW. June 20 (Interfax) - Russian President Vladimir Putin has expressed gratitude to outgoing Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev for his contribution to development of bilateral relations and support for the Russian language.
"We know that the president is concluding his work in this high-ranking post. I would like to thank him for all he has done for development of Russian-Kyrgyz relations and what he is doing for the development of and support for the Russian language in Kyrgyzstan. We greatly appreciate this," Putin said at a press conference with Atambayev.
Atambayev "has laid a solid foundation for development of bilateral relations in the medium and, hopefully, long term," the Russian president said.
Atambayev, for his part, expressed hope that this foundation "is not only for the medium term, but forever."
A large-scale international forum on the Altai civilization will be held in Kyrgyzstan in July, he said, recalling that "many peoples, including the Kyrgyz, come from Altai." "This is why Russia is our ancestral homeland. But not only our common past unites us, also certainly the common future. I can't imagine Kyrgyzstan's future without Russia," he said.