Russia pledges to help resolve situation on Kyrgystan-Tajikistan border
On May 24, in Sochi city, Russian President Putin held talks with Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov, who is in Russia on a 2-day working visit.
Security, trade and the fight against Covid-19 were the main topics of the talks between the Presidents of Russia and Kyrgyzstan. Moscow is Bishkek's largest economic and trade partner. The countries are actively cooperating within the framework of the Eurasian Economic Union. Due to the pandemic, bilateral trade turnover decreased, but is now recovering. In 2020, the import-export turnover between the two countries amounted to about 1.5 billion USD. Russia also provided significant support to Kyrgyzstan in the fight against the pandemic.
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In July 2020, a large consignment of medical equipment and medicines worth 150 million rubles was delivered to Bishkek. Russian experts are currently studying the possibility of deploying the production of the Sputnik-V vaccine at one of the sites in Kyrgyzstan.
The leaders paid special attention to security issues in the context of the recent conflict on the border between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. President Putin affirmed that Russia is closely monitoring the situation on the Tajikistan-Kyrgyzstan border. This issue was also discussed by Mr. Putin when the President of Tajikistan visited Russia recently.
The situation on the border between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan escalated in late April. The cause was a conflict between local residents over access to water resources. The conflict then escalated into a clash between soldiers from both sides.
