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RR RUEHAST RUEHBI RUEHCI RUEHLH RUEHLN RUEHPW RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHEK #0422/01 1211056
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 301056Z APR 08
FM AMEMBASSY BISHKEK
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0965
INFO RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE
RUCNCLS/ALL SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA COLLECTIVE
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 2502
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC
RUEKJCS/OSD WASHDC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 0895
RUEHVEN/USMISSION USOSCE 2896
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 2281
RUEHNO/USMISSION USNATO BRUSSELS BE
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS
RUEHLMC/MILLENNIUM CHALLENGE CORP
RUMICEA/USCENTCOM INTEL CEN MACDILL AFB FL

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BISHKEK 000422 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR SCA/PPD 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PGOV KPAO KG
SUBJECT: Kyrgyz Media Reaction on Shooting of Russian Officer Based 
in Kant 
 
BISHKEK 00000422  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED. NOT FOR INTERNET DISTRIBUTION. 
 
¶1. (U) SUMMARY: On Sunday, April 20th, there was an altercation 
between Russian servicemen and Kyrgyz traffic police outside 
Bishkek.  As a result, Kyrgyz traffic police shot a Russian officer 
based at the Russian air base in Kant, who was severely injured, 
losing a rib and his spleen.  While the Kyrgyz and Russians pointed 
fingers at each other, the Kyrgyz Ministry of Interior Affairs urged 
the media not to "politicize" the incident.  The plea apparently 
succeeded; there were few comments in the press and little public 
outrage.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2. (U) On Sunday, April 20th, at approximately 2:00 am local time, 
there was an altercation between Russian servicemen and Kyrgyz 
traffic police outside Bishkek.  The shooting of the Russian officer 
was first reported in Kyrgyzstan by Rosbalt, a Russian Information 
Agency, which was quick to blame the Kyrgyz traffic police, alleging 
that the Kyrgyz fired at the Russian officers without provocation. 
The Rosbalt report was picked up and rerun by Kyrgyz electronic news 
outlets, AkiPress and 24.kg. 
 
¶3. (U) Independent Kyrgyz-language "Radio Azattyk" (the local 
affiliate of RFE/RL) gave a different account of the incident: 
"According to the Interior Ministry, a car carrying Russian 
servicemen did not obey an order from traffic policemen to stop and 
continued to travel. The policemen had to pursue the vehicle and 
opened fire when the Russian servicemen resisted.  [The Kyrgyz 
policemen] first fired a warning shot into the air, then shot to 
kill.  As a result, one of the three servicemen was injured." 
 
¶4. (U) On April 22nd, the opposition Kyrgyz-language newspaper "De 
Facto" lead with a front-page article entitled, "Drunk Russian 
Officer Shot by Kyrgyz Traffic Police," which criticized the 
Russians: "They should drink inside the base and do whatever they 
want to inside the base. Once outside the base, representatives of a 
foreign military force must follow Kyrgyz laws."  The Former 
Secretary of the Security Council Miroslav Niazov commented: "Russia 
 
SIPDIS 
should work together to investigate the case, and Kyrgyz side must 
provide people with full facts."  The De Facto article was followed 
by another opposition Kyrgyz-language newspaper, "Agym," which 
editorialized: "We don't want Russian servicemen to forget that they 
are in the land of Kyrgyzstan." 
 
¶5. (U) Independent, pro-Russian "Belyi Parohod" compared the Russian 
and Kyrgyz versions of the incident and concluded: "The incident is 
possibly an attempt by a third party to damage Kyrgyz-Russian 
relations.  Only a third power present in Kyrgyzstan with observer 
status and that is not interested in the Russian presence here may 
benefit from destabilization of mutually beneficial, both for Russia 
and our country, bilateral relations - that is what a number of 
pro-Russian political analysts think." 
 
¶6. (U) The most popular online discussion forum, "Diesel," was open 
briefly for discussion of the incident.  As often happens with 
politically-sensitive issues, the discussion was quickly closed - 27 
hours after it began.  The moderator explained: "This topic is 
closed until the moment of agreement between 'ours' and yours' [i.e. 
between Kyrgyz and Russians]." 
 
¶7. (SBU) COMMENT: Time and again, when there are negative incidents 
involving Russians, they receive scant attention in the local press 
and spontaneous online discussion, however benign, is quickly 
suppressed.  "Diesel" forum quickly closed discussions on the topic 
of the 1916 uprising (which took the lives of at least 100,000 
ethnic Kyrgyz) and when a car driven by a Russian diplomat fatally 
killed a passerby in December 2007.  The limited press coverage of 
the recent incident is yet another example of the double standard in 
media coverage of U.S. versus Russian incidents in Kyrgyzstan.  It 
is also interesting to note that three days after the shooting of 
the Russian officer, local press picked up a story from the Air 
Force Times about servicemen at the U.S. Base at Manas being 
 
BISHKEK 00000422  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
penalized for excessive consumption of alcohol.  Though it was 
strictly factual and based on the Air Force's own reporting, it was 
widely disseminated in the local press. 
 
Yovanovitch