Putin's Kyrgyzstan Visits

Russian President Vladimir Putin will pay two visits to Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, for two major summit meetings: in June for the summit meeting of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, established back in 2002, and in August for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit.
 
The importance of Kyrgyzstan for the Kremlin is mainly due to its geopolitical location. Indeed, Kyrgyzstan has water resources that can affect Uzbekistan and southern Kazakhstan. It bridges China with Central Asian countries. It is located to the north of Afghanistan. It has both US and Russian military bases.
 
Driven with the special importance Putin attaches to Kyrgyzstan, the Bishkek-Kremlin rapprochement has been under way for some time. Three major agreements on military, economic and energy cooperation have been made between Kremlin and Bishkek.  Russia has written off Kyrgyzstan's debts, which amounted to $500 million. The lease for the Russian military base Kant in Kyrgyzstan has been extended for another 15 years. In addition to the Kant military base near Bishkek, the Russian Federation will establish another base in the southern province of Osh. Kyrgyzstan is expected to become a full member of the Customs Union. Thus, Kyrgyzstan will be the second full member from Central Asia after Kazakhstan.
 
The Russian Federation also removed a mafia leader from Kyrgyzstan. Aziz Batukayev was the leader of the Kyrgyz mafia. He was of Kyrgyz-Chechen origin. He was released upon a medical report certifying that he had leukemia and his treatment was not possible in Kyrgyzstan. He flew to Chechnya aboard a private plane half an hour before Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan left Bishkek on April 11. Batukayev is expected to take the post of Ded Hasan, who was killed, and become 'Vorzakone' overseeing the entire mafia network in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) geography. The Russians call mafia leaders “Vorzakone.” It literally means "thief of the law." In former Soviet Union countries, mafia leaders quit unlawful activities. They became businessmen or politicians. Therefore, a mafia leader who can bring order to the entire CIS geography is needed (seeing as they are the most influential people in the region, they need to be headed by a figure "respected by all.")  The only and most suitable candidate was Batukayev, and Kyrgyzstan released him citing his health problems as the reason.
 
Kyrgyzstan's surface area is small. Kyrgyzstan has a small population. It has virtually no industry. It is a mountainous country. But it knows how to organize a well-trained labor force. Most importantly, it is known to excel in diplomacy and strategy. Thanks to this, Kyrgyzstan has managed to implement a multi-party parliamentary democracy in Central Asia. It has successfully left the democratization turbulence which is currently engulfing other Central Asian countries. Furthermore, the Kyrgyz diplomacy manages to establish close and delicately poised ties with the Russian Federation, Kazakhstan, China, the US, the EU and Turkey despite the fact that these countries or unions represent diverse diplomatic agendas. Kyrgyzstan is apt at maintaining this equilibrium politics, and the country's domestic stability, which sits on scarce resources, is not a problem that concerns solely this country.
 
Indeed, Kyrgyzstan needs aid to ensure security in the country. Despite this fact, Westerners just talk, but they don't do anything to facilitate daily life and boost welfare in the country. In Central Asia, only Russian and Turks put their money where their mouth is. Accordingly, the bilateral ties between the Russian Federation and Kyrgyzstan continue to grow in many aspects and in harmony with the increased rapprochement. Kremlin and Bishkek already enjoy deep-rooted ties. Kyrgyzstan is the only former Soviet republic that continues to use Russian as an official language in addition to the locally spoken language after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Not only Russian, but also Russian culture is part of family life particularly in urban areas of Kyrgyzstan (and Kazakhstan). Some 500,000 Kyrgyz people work in the services sector in the Russian Federation despite the fact that they suffer Russian racism in metropolitan cities of the Russian Federation.