Arriving on a flight from Moscow yesterday, officers of the Kyrgyz security service (GSNB) detained Communist Party leader Iskhak Masaliev at the Bishkek airport. The ensuing fiasco has fueled rumors that the Kremlin is behind ongoing instability in Kyrgyzstan.
Within hours, a group of former parliamentarians arrived at the GSNB headquarters, rushed into the building, encircled Masaliev, and drove him away, he said. He later gave a press conference at the news agency 24.kg.
“Why does everybody think that if a politician or an official visits Moscow, the matter is about a change of power?” Masaliev said after his release, claiming he went to Moscow to meet with communist leaders there.
In the days before President Kurmanbek Bakiyev fled on April 7, several opposition leaders visited the Kremlin.
Since Bakiyev's ouster and the interim government abolished his parliament, Masaliev had been agitating for a legal transfer of power, becoming a frequent critic of the interim government.
“We do not recognize the legitimacy of the interim government,” he said at the press conference.
Some observers suspect Masaliev is concerned his party could not gain seats in a clean election.
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