MINSK, June 7 (RAPSI) - Russia is not going to intervene in the Belarusian-Kyrgyz dispute over the extradition of former Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, Russian Ambassador to Belarus Alexander Surikov told a news conference in Minsk on Friday.
"The issue concerns bilateral relations," he said. "They will settle their dispute in accordance with international law." "We are not going to get involved," Surikov stressed.
Kurmanbek Bakiyev and his younger brother Janysh, who headed the Kyrgyz security services, fled to Belarus after the bloody uprising in Kyrgyzstan in April 2010. Both were accused of ordering the security forces to open fire on crowds of protesters. About 90 people were killed and around 1,000 injured as a result.
The two brothers were later granted political asylum by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. Kurmanbek Bakiyev was granted Belarusian citizenship in 2010.
In February 2013, a Kyrgyzstan military court sentenced the former president in absentia to 24 years in a high-security prison for abuse of office. His brother was sentenced in absentia to life on six charges, including mass murder.
The court also ordered the Bakiyevs' property to be confiscated.
Belarusian Prosecutor General Alexander Konyuk recently denied reports that Minsk was in talks to extradite former Kyrgyz President. He dismissed the allegations as "deliberately misleading," adding that the law does not allow the extradition of Belarusian citizens.
Several media sources earlier reported, citing diplomatic sources, that Minsk had agreed to negotiate the Bakiyev brothers' extradition.