Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[REGNUM] In Kyrgyzstan, the anti-Russian lobby has come up with a new excuse to try to spoil relations between Bishkek and Moscow. This time, Russia was “guilty” of deciding to arrange a holiday for children from Kyrgyzstan in the Artek camp. Pro-Western Kyrgyz politicians saw this as Russia's attempt to "integrate" Kyrgyzstan, but forgot that without this integration, the inhabitants of this Central Asian republic would lose both money and cheap fuel.
The Crimean children's camp "Artek", which in Soviet times was a symbol of friendship between peoples, turned out to be an irritant for Kyrgyz nationalists. The representative office of Rossotrudnichestvo in Kyrgyzstan decided to hold a competition among local schoolchildren in the republic and send its winners for free to rest in the Artek international children's center. The contestants were asked to find among their compatriots those who had previously been to Artek and ask how it affected their lives.
The innocent undertaking angered some local politicians. In particular, the former deputy of the parliament of the republic (Zhogorku Kenesh) Omurbek Abdrakhmanov, who discerned the insidious designs of Moscow in such competitions.
"Now Russia has no one left, except for a few countries such as North Korea, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan . And they decided to hold similar events there to integrate us. There are few allies, what remains to be done? the politician told the news agency Vesti.ru on April 6. Kg."
Abdrakhmanov is sure: "With the current state of affairs and the possible counter-offensive (APU) that is being talked about in the news, by the time the winners of the competition are determined, Artek may become Ukrainian."
The politician recalled the military-patriotic games "Zarnitsa" to the authorities of the republic, which were held in 2022 in Issyk-Kul, criticizing them for militarism, which supposedly did nothing for anyone.
"We have several flagship programs, but we do not set political goals. Our tasks are purely humanitarian. There is, for example, a program under which the children of compatriots from all over the world come to Russia. In addition, there is the "New Generations" program for young foreigners (25-30 years old), according to which they come to Russia. And these programs were, are and will be, regardless of what kind of cockroaches settled in the head of some politician," the head of Rossotrudnichestvo, Yevgeny Primakov, told REGNUM news agency.
It is really not easy to explain Abdrakhmanov's statement otherwise than as "cockroaches." Integration, which the pro-American politician fears so much, has not only been going on for a long time, but is going primarily to the benefit and in the interests of Kyrgyzstan itself.
Every sixth citizen of the republic works in Russia, stated the director of the Center for Employment of Citizens Abroad at the Ministry of Labour, Social Security and Migration of Kyrgyzstan Kubandyk Akmatbekov. According to the data for 2022, 1,630,000 guests from Kyrgyzstan got on the migration register in Russia.
The special military operation that Mr. Abdrakhmanov fears so much has had no effect on the flow of migrants. Over the past year, the number of residents of the republic who went to work in Russia increased compared to 2021, Rossiyskaya Gazeta cited data from the National Statistical Committee of Kyrgyzstan. Let's add to this the special rights enjoyed by labor migrants from this country in Russia due to Kyrgyzstan's membership in the Eurasian Economic Union - and these are payments for temporary disability and even for child care.
The Russian state pays a lump sum social benefit at the birth of a child to all foreign citizens who have a temporary residence permit, residence permit or refugee status, according to the "Citizenship . online", in 2023 it is 23,011 rubles.
Almost 140,000 children of foreigners study in Russian schools - more than 1% of the total number of students, TASS noted . In November last year, Kyrgyz schoolchildren, as part of the humanitarian program of the Russian Ministry of Education, arrived to study at the international education center in Ivanovo, Sputnik reported . Kyrgyzstan ". A total of 14,000 students from Kyrgyzstan study at Russian universities, half of them at the expense of the Russian budget, said Valentina Matvienko , speaker of the Federation Council .
In addition, Russia is building schools , solar power plants, railways, infectious disease research centers and even truck service centers in Kyrgyzstan . All in all, according to the Russian Ministry of Economic Development, more than 40 major projects with Russian participation totaling about $2 billion are being implemented in Kyrgyzstan today.
“Almost 2 million live and work in Russia, and they have more benefits than migrants from other republics. Russia allocated millions of dollars to feed schoolchildren in Kyrgyzstan. And that is why it is worth asking people like Abdrakhmanov what Western country would give us such funds constantly for the development of our children? What religious organization would help like that?” Kyrgyz political scientist Toktogul Kakchekeev told REGNUM news agency.
Among other things, almost 100% of senior and middle-level officers study at Russian military academies, the source added.
The republic is already in the Russian integration field, Kakchekeyev emphasized. According to him, if the ideas preached by Omurbek Abdrakhmanov and the leaders of pro-Western NGOs "speaking from someone else’s voice” triumph in Kyrgyzstan, then “it will be scary," as the country will roll back to the level of the early feudal era.
"The population will be forcibly Islamized and speak Arabic. I have no doubt that dark and cruel times of lack of rights will come, as during the existence of the Kokand Khanate. And I am glad that our President Sadyr Zhaparov has built good relations with the Russian Federation," Kakchekeyev summed up.
Moreover, today it is generally difficult to find a direction in which Russia would not build relations with Kyrgyzstan to the obvious benefit of Bishkek, emphasizes Andrey Grozin, head of the department for Kazakhstan and Central Asia at the Institute of CIS Countries .
"One of our duty-free gasoline, which we have been supplying for over a decade, outweighs all possible alternative offers that have been voiced from Turkey, the European Union and the United States," Grozin told REGNUM.
"This duty-free trade in fuels and lubricants alone makes Kyrgyzstan very seriously dependent on Russian economic policy."
Another thing is that our geopolitical opponents are not sitting idly by, the expert notes. “And in Kyrgyzstan, over more than three decades of sovereignty, an unmeasured number of Western NGOs and NGOs have bred."
"This asset (together with members of their families) was estimated by experts at about 250,000 people. And we are talking about politically pointed structures. And 250,000 for a six-million-strong Kyrgyzstan is quite a serious force.
Another thing is that a significant blow was dealt to them when they tried to shake up the situation with the regulation of the border issue between Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan - on the issue of ownership of the Kempirabad reservoir," said the expert on the region.
Two dozen of "the most vociferous, hereditary grant-eaters, such as Rita Karasartova or Ravshan Jeenbekov, were shoved into a pre-trial detention center, where they have been sitting for three months already," Grozin noted.
Therefore, it cannot be said that the authorities of the Kyrgyz Republic condone the activities of anti-Russian forces, the expert noted. “Which of the five Central Asian states has closed the local branch of Radio Liberty (a media outlet recognized in Russia as a foreign agent)? In Kyrgyzstan! This is a rather serious and demonstrative step, which was perceived without any pleasure in the West," Grozin noted.
In addition, he drew attention to the fact that a media campaign against foreign agents in Kyrgyzstan is being carried out both on state television channels and in print media.
Thus, Kyrgyzstan is kept in the zone of Russian influence by two factors. On the one hand, this is economic dependence, and on the other, the will of the authorities.
"Moreover, even when the authorities of the Kyrgyz Republic took positions unfriendly to Russian foreign policy, for example, under President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, they did not cross red lines. And the current president, Sadyr Zhaparov, is a rather balanced person, and he understands that, just as he came in October 2020, he can leave if any upheavals begin. However, now the regime is much stronger," Grozin summed up.
April 7, 2023
Ivan Zhurenkov
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