7 Jun 2012 19:44

McFaul admits mistakenly branding "humanitarian aid" as bribe

MOSCOW. June 7 (Interfax) - United States Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul has said he should not have said that the United States and Russia had been offering bribes to former Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev.

I regret using the word "bribe." I should have said: an economic aid package. My statement was a mistake, and I regret it, the ambassador said in Moscow.

In one of his earlier speeches he claimed that Russia and the U.S. had offered bribers to the Kyrgyz regime to increase their influence in this country.