Kyrgyzstan: To Give, It Seems the Kremlin Must First Take Away

It may become a hot parlor game at the next CIS summit: Where did the money come from? All that is known at this point is that the Kremlin intends to take away $2 billion in assistance to an unnamed CIS ally or allies in order to make good on recent promises made to Kyrgyzstan.

The Kremlin aid package, agreed upon on February 3, is widely believed to be responsible for inducing President Kurmanbek Bakiyev's regime in Bishkek to evict US troops from an air base in Kyrgyzstan. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

After Russian President Dmitry Medvedev extended the Russian assistance offer to Kyrgyzstan, Russia's two legislative chambers, the Duma and the Federation Council, adopted amendments to the state budget to enable the Kremlin to make good on its $2.15 billion promise. The appropriate amendments were signed by Medvedev on February 26.

Russia has been among the countries hardest hit by the global financial crisis. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. Thus, Moscow does not now feel in position to take on additional obligations. Thus, the Kremlin is trying to reshuffle available funds to meet its new policy priorities.

In comments distributed by the RosBusinessConsulting news website on March 3, Russian Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Shatalov revealed that the money now destined for Kyrgyzstan would come from a previously approved program. A report published by the Gazeta.ru news website, meanwhile, indicated that several CIS states would see their assistance allocations drop as a result of the Kyrgyz assistance package. Russian officials publicly have not revealed any specifics about how the Bishkek obligation will be implemented.