Kyrgyz FM Summons Belarusian Ambassador Over Lukashenka-Bakiev Meeting

BISHKEK -- Kyrgyzstan’s Foreign Ministry has summoned the Belarusian ambassador to Bishkek to give explanations about a meeting between President Alyaksandr Lukashenka and fugitive former Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiev.

The ministry said on August 7 that Ambassador Syarhey Ivanou was handed a note of protest.

"The Kyrgyz side views it as absolutely unacceptable that during the meeting [between Lukashenka and Bakiev] the Kyrgyz Republic's national symbols were used...which completely contradicts principles of friendship and cooperation between the two nations."

Lukashenka's official website said on August 6 that the Belarusian leader met with Bakiev in his office in Minsk on the occasion of the former Kyrgyz president's 70th birthday, which he had marked several days earlier.

Bakiev and some of his family members and associates have been residing in Belarus since April 2010 after he was toppled by violent anti-government protests.

He was sentenced in absentia to life in prison in Kyrgyzstan for his role in the disturbances, which left almost 100 people dead.

Minsk has ignored several requests from Bishkek for Bakiev's extradition to Kyrgyzstan.