Attempted coup in Biškek

5 people including "Eldik Keneš" party leader Rosa Nurmatova, known as a pro-Russian activist arrested. Accusers denounce a "hybrid" action by the Kremlin, which fears Kyrgyzstan's excessive openness to cooperation with Westerners. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov: "worrying news that we are following closely."

Biškek (AsiaNews) - The Biškek court confirmed the arrest of five among the 30 people detained on June 5, including "Eldik Keneš" party leader Rosa Nurmatova and "Ček ara" ("Frontier") civil association member Gulžigit Isakov, accused of "planning a seizure of power with the use of violence" by making deals with foreign financiers, according to wiretaps by Gknb services.

Also recognized among the photographs released by the services was a political scientist, the teacher of the faculty of state and municipal services at Biškek State University, Čolponbek Sydykbaev. The faculty dean, Kunduzgul Bazakeeva, says she did not notice anything suspicious in her colleague, an assertion also confirmed by other faculty members. Nurmatova, on the other hand, is well known as a pro-Russian activist, having for a time been among the supporters of current President Žaparov when he was in opposition, and her participation in the "plot" even provoked a reaction from Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, who spoke of "disturbing news" that Moscow is "following closely."

Nurmatova is said to be the organizer and "ideological inspiration" of the coup attempt, in which at least 100 people from all regions of the country were supposed to take part. Isakov was present at the 2019 meeting in support of Žaparov, when the latter was under arrest in the latest period of political conflict, typical of Kyrgyzstan's instability, along with Kamčibek Tašiev, the current head of the Gknb. Isakov later heavily criticized Žaparov's own regime, especially at the time of the cession of the Kempir-Abad reservoir to Uzbekistan.

A member of the "Ček ara" association, Beknazar Ajtaliev, responded to reporters by saying that Isakov's arrest "on the one hand it is not understood, on the other hand it is suspicious; it is true that Gulžigit is very critical of power, but so far they had not been able to accuse him of anything, despite the fact that they have tried several times...he does not work in state bodies, he is not corrupt and he does not break any laws, maybe they just associated him with something he had nothing to do with." According to the Gknb statement, Isakov was Nurmatova's first "accomplice."

The services also claim that "regular secret meetings were held under Nurmatova's leadership to formulate the ideological motives of those involved, against state structures, and to discuss plans for the seizure of power, down to the precise distribution of roles and tasks." Funding from abroad would be used to "solve organizational problems, and buy the necessary officials from the institutions to be assailed."

It was not clear which countries were funding it all, but many details point specifically to Russia. Recently, an article had appeared in the Russian newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets with an interview with Nurmatova, in which she speaks out very harshly against "the spread in Kyrgyzstan of the values of the West, derived from the Western concept of tolerance and overcoming traditional values," views she has expressed in several public meetings over the past year.

According to several Kyrgyz commentators, the coup attempt is in essence a "hybrid" action by the Kremlin, which fears Kyrgyzstan's excessive openness to cooperation with Westerners as part of a broader plan to control Central Asian countries.