Kyrgyzstan says it is looking into reports that fugitive former President Kurmanbek Bakiev has been awarded with the Belarusian Peoples' Friendship Order.
The Kyrgyz Foreign Ministry said on August 6 that it had summoned the Belarusian ambassador to Bishkek, Viktar Dzyanisenka, on August 5 to request an explanation of the reports.
Dzyanisenka told Kyrgyz officials that he had no information on the matter and promised to provide the Kyrgyz Foreign Ministry with more details.
Bakiev and some of his family members have been residing in Belarus since April 2010 after he was toppled by violent antigovernment protests.
He was sentenced in absentia to life in prison in Kyrgyzstan for his role in the disturbances, which left almost 100 people dead.