OSH -- The Kara-Suu checkpoint on the border between Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan has been closed, RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service reports.
Cholponbek Turusbekov , the deputy head of Kyrgyzstan's Border Guard Service, told RFE/RL that the decision to close the border crossing March 1 was taken by Uzbekistan.
He said that Uzbek officials attributed that decision to the "low number of people crossing the border at this segment of the Kyrgyz-Uzbek border."
The Uzbek government introduced new regulations last month for Kyrgyz citizens who visit Uzbekistan regularly. Those regulations limit the number of times a Kyrgyz citizen may enter Uzbekistan to once every three months.
Hundreds of thousands of ethnic Uzbeks with Kyrgyz passports live in southern Kyrgyzstan, particularly in the Osh region. Many of them have relatives on the other side of the border.
Meanwhile, RFE/RL's Uzbek Service quotes Uzbek media as reporting that the checkpoint has been closed temporarily for renovation.