Russia Pledges $500 Million To Boost Kyrgyz Economy

Russia has pledged financial aid worth about $500 million to Kyrgyzstan in support of the Central Asian republic's integration into Moscow-leg regional groups.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the financial package was discussed during talks in Sochi on August 11 between the Russian and Kyrgyz presidents.

Lavrov described the aid as Russia's contribution to support the Kyrgyz economy and to help Kyrgyzstan "comfortably" integrate into the Customs Union and the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU).

Kyrgyzstan's President Almazbek Atambaev said earlier that his country intends to join the two regional groups by the end of 2014.

The Customs Union and EEU group together Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan.

The Customs Union was created in 2010.

The EEU was launched in May 2014 as the regulatory body of the Customs Union and the Eurasian Economic Community, another Russian-led regional group.

Based on reporting by ITAR-TASS, and Interfax