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id: 247865
date: 2/9/2010 6:11
refid: 10BISHKEK98
origin: Embassy Bishkek
classification: SECRET
destination: 10BISHKEK119|10BISHKEK71|10BISHKEK96
header:
VZCZCXRO9437
OO RUEHBI RUEHCI RUEHDBU RUEHLH RUEHNEH RUEHPW
DE RUEHEK #0098/01 0400611
ZNY SSSSS ZZH
O 090611Z FEB 10
FM AMEMBASSY BISHKEK
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 3027
INFO RUCNCLS/ALL SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE
RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC IMMEDIATE
RUEKJCS/OSD WASHDC IMMEDIATE
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC IMMEDIATE
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RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC IMMEDIATE
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC IMMEDIATE
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA IMMEDIATE 1644
RUEHVEN/USMISSION USOSCE IMMEDIATE 3702
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK IMMEDIATE 3095
RUEHNO/USMISSION USNATO BRUSSELS BE IMMEDIATE
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS IMMEDIATE
RUEHLMC/MILLENNIUM CHALLENGE CORP IMMEDIATE
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S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 BISHKEK 000098 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR SCA/CEN (GORKOWSKI) 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/09/2020 
TAGS: PGOV PREL PINS PHUM KG
SUBJECT: HEAD OF SECRETARIAT ASSERTS SADYRKULOV DEATH AN 
ACCIDENT 
 
REF: A. BISHKEK 96 
     ¶B. BISHKEK 71 
     C 09 BISHKEK 119 
 
BISHKEK 00000098  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Tatiana C. Gfoeller, Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
¶1.  (S)  Summary:  During a friendly lunch at the 
Ambassador's residence, Oksana Malevanaya, the Head of the 
Presidential Secretariat, broached the topic of Medet 
Sadyrkulov's death.  She said that he was her husband, soul 
mate and the father of her youngest child, and that she could 
not have continued working for the Kyrgyz government had she 
believed it had killed him.  With apparently deep emotion, 
she described the reasoning that led her to believe 
Sadyrkulov's death was indeed an accident.  She observed that 
the Kyrgyz Security Services are simply "too stupid" to have 
been capable of assassinating him.  She also claimed that 
leading up to and following his resignation, Sadyrkulov had 
been talking with the opposition through Valentin Bogatyrov 
and Sergei Slepchenko, but that he had never wavered in his 
loyalty to President Bakiyev.  End Summary. 
 
¶2.  (C)  The Ambassador hosted Oksana Malevanaya, the Head of 
the Presidential Secretariat, for a lunch at her residence on 
February 3.  The discussion was friendly, and covered several 
topics, including pressing for a visit by Secretary Clinton, 
the future of the Drug Control Agency, and the abolishment of 
the Ministry of Defense.  The tenor of the discussion 
changed, however, when Malevanaya introduced the topic of 
Medet Sadyrkulov, and described her perspective on his 
political activities and the nature of his death.  This is 
the second part of a two-part cable (ref A). 
 
A Tragic Accident? 
------------------ 
 
¶3.  (S)  After about an hour of discussion, the tenor of the 
meeting changed dramatically when Malevanaya introduced the 
subject of the death of Medet Sadyrkulov.  Visibly trembling, 
and with her eyes filling with tears, she said that 
Sadyrkulov had been her husband, her "soul mate," and the 
father of her youngest child.  She said that she is tormented 
by people who ask how she can continue to work for the 
government that killed him.  The answer to that, she said 
passionately, was that the Bakiyev Government did not kill 
him.  She said that she is very familiar with the 
capabilities of the Kyrgyz Security Service (SNB), and they 
are simply "too stupid" to be able to carry out a complex 
assassination.  Also, she said, on the day Sadyrkulov died, 
he had telephoned her and told her that he himself was 
uncertain about when he would be traveling back from Almaty. 
Therefore, she reasoned, it would have been impossible to 
ambush him. 
 
¶4.  (S)  Continuing, she said that she has seen "18 different 
autopsy reports," none of which indicate that the people in 
the car were shot before they died.  Sadyrkulov's body was 
almost completely incinerated, but it was clear from reports 
that Sergei Slepchenko had been alive when he burned.  She 
also said that the location of the car was not as suspicious 
as it seemed:  Twelve Chimneys Gorge was one of Sadyrkulov's 
favorite spots, and he often went there to walk around.  In 
short, Malevanaya believed the official story that their 
deaths were an accident was true:  The car was hit from 
behind, and a fire quickly ignited the interior upholstery. 
Fumes from the upholstery incapacitated the men, and they 
subsequently asphyxiated or burned to death. 
 
¶5.  (S)  Malevanaya also said that, contrary to many accounts 
(ref B), there was never any violent break between herself 
and Sadyrkulov, although they had disagreed sharply about his 
decision to leave the government.  She said that while she 
was pregnant with his child (her second), she stepped back 
from politics.  During that time, while she was not paying 
 
BISHKEK 00000098  002.6 OF 002 
 
 
attention, Sadyrkulov fell under the influence of Valentin 
Bogatyrov and Slepchenko, who, to advance their own agendas, 
pulled Sadyrkulov into contacts with the political 
opposition.  Malevanaya said that although Sadyrkulov was 
speaking to the opposition, he was still fundamentally loyal 
to President Bakiyev.  After Malevanaya had her son, she 
reentered political life, and began trying to peel Sadyrkulov 
away from Bogatyrov and Slepchenko, but she was unsuccessful. 
 
¶6.  (S)  Malevanaya expressed a great deal of venom towards 
Bogatyrov and Slepchenko, but in spite of repeated questions 
by the Ambassador, the reason for the hostility remained 
unclear.  Malevanaya said, without explaining the source of 
her knowledge, that Bogatyrov and Slepchenko had engineered 
Janysh Bakiyev's appointment as the head of the Presidential 
Security Service as a stratagem to make Sadyrkulov feel more 
vulnerable, and therefore more amenable to covert talks with 
the opposition. 
 
¶7.  (S)  When the Ambassador asked whose interests these 
conspiracies would advance, Malevanaya gave two, apparently 
conflicting, answers.  First, she said Bogatyrov is an agent 
of the Russian FSB, implying that weakening Sadyrkulov had 
been in the interest of the Russian Government.  Second, she 
implied that Bogatyrov, Slepchenko, or both, had ties to a 
very wealthy Kazakh businessman, whom she did not name. 
Sadyrkulov, she claimed, was the only man in the Kyrgyz 
government &smart enough8 to figure out this man,s 
intentions.  Despite appeals from the Kazakh to ethnic 
solidarity (Sadyrkulov was an ethnic Kazakh), Sadyrkulov had 
earlier clashed with this businessman, and prevented him from 
"taking over the Kyrgyz economy."  So, Malevanaya reasoned 
that this businessman would have had an interest in removing 
Sadyrkulov from power, or at least &distracting him with 
Janysh8 while he tried again to take over the Kyrgyz 
economy.. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶8.  (S)  Malevanaya is evidently still very distraught at the 
death of Sadyrkulov, and extremely angry at Bogatyrov and 
Slepchenko for their "involvement" with Sadyrkulov.  Despite 
Malevanaya's comments, Sadyrkulov may have been deeply 
involved in plotting Bakiyev's overthrow.  In February 2009, 
shortly before his death, Sadyrkulov met with the Ambassador 
(ref C) and described his plans to organize opposition to 
Bakiyev and install former Vice Prime Minister Elmira 
Ibraimova as Bakiyev's successor.  It is unclear whether 
Malevanaya was unaware of this activity or was being less 
than candid.  However, Malevanaya's account of Sadyrkulov's 
relationship with Slepchenko and Bogatyrov is roughly 
consistent with an open letter recently published by Syrgak 
Abdyldayev, a journalist who was brutally assaulted in March 
¶2009.  Abdyldayev claimed that he was working with 
Slepchenko, and through him, Sadyrkulov, in developing a new 
opposition website. 
GFOELLER 

=======================CABLE ENDS============================