Sadyr Zhaparov: Western countries urge us not to cooperate with Russia, while they continue to do so

In his interview with the Kabar news agency, Sadyr Zhaparov openly stated that Western countries requested the republic to abandon relations with Russia. However, the head of state repeated the words he had previously said to a Russian journalist: ‘Kyrgyzstan cannot go for it’. 

The president explained that the trade turnover between the two countries exceeds $4bn, including the import of oil, gas, wheat and other goods the country needs.

"Geographically, we are in a dead-end country. Our road and railway routes to the world pass through the Russian Federation. About a million of our migrants are there. How can we not cooperate with Russia? Besides, some EU countries, despite the sanctions, continue to work with Russia when they need it, and they tell us not to cooperate. This is an unfair demand,’ the head of state said.

At the same time, the president stressed that Kyrgyzstan is equally cooperating with various countries of the world in mutual interests. He cited the recently signed cooperation agreement with the European Union as an example.

"We also cooperate with other CIS countries. Trade turnover with some of them has increased 7 times in the last four years. Geographically we are also close to the CIS countries. We can say that our daily affairs are closely intertwined with them. We depend on each other on some issues, so it is impossible to refuse to work with them,' Sadyr Zhaparov continued, adding that the Kyrgyz Republic as a member of the UN does not deal with sanctioned goods.