BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan: Authorities in ex-Soviet Kazakhstan have arrested a lawmaker from neighbouring Kyrgyzstan over contraband, both governments have said in a development which threatens to undermine their diplomatic rapprochement.
In Bishkek, the Kyrgyz foreign ministry said late on Saturday it had “received notice” from Kazakhstan of the arrest of Damirbek Asylbek uulu, an MP with the ruling coalition, along with three other Kyrgyz citizens.
And in Astana, the Kazakh foreign ministry confirmed it was in “regular contact” with Kyrgyzstan regarding the arrest of Asylbek uulu.
Oil-rich Kazakhstan’s state prosecutor said a total of 29 people, among them citizens of Kyrgyzstan, had been arrested as part of a massive anti-smuggling operation near their shared border.
Astana has accused Bishkek of enabling smuggling several times in the last six months following a spat linked to Kyrgyzstan’s tense presidential election in October.
The dispute between the two Central Asian neighbours emerged after ageing Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev appeared to publicly back a populist opposition candidate to win the bitterly-fought Kyrgyz vote.
Kyrgyzstan quickly accused Kazakhstan of trying to “influence” the election at the expense of outgoing President Almazbek Atambayev’s ally Sooronbai Jeenbekov, who ended up winning.
Kazakhstan then imposed extensive border controls, leading to long tailbacks across their shared border after Atambayev assailed Kazakhstan as a corrupt autocracy in a fiery pre-election speech.
Following the ballot, Jeenbekov met with Nazarbayev in a move which appeared to calm tensions and normalise the situation at the border.
Both countries are members of a Russia-led trade bloc called the Eurasian Economic Union.
Resource-poor Kyrgyzstan is seen as the most democratic state in Central Asia, a predominantly authoritarian region, but it has also been the most politically volatile in recent times.
A Muslim-majority country, it underwent two revolutions that unseated presidents in 2005 and 2010 followed by ethnic violence that left over 400 people dead.
Whilst Kyrgyzstan’s constitution imposes single-term limits on its presidents, 77-year-old Nazarbayev has ruled Kazakhstan tolerating little opposition for nearly three decades.
