Russian troops will be deployed to guard some strategic sites in Kyrgyzstan, the Central Asian country’s interim leader Roza Otunbayeva said on national radio on Friday.
“Russian troops will guard some strategic sites in Kyrgyzstan,” Ms Otunbayeva said. “This decision has been taken to ensure security for these sites.”
Ms Otunbayeva had earlier asked Russia to send military forces to help quell ethnic clashes that exploded in the Central Asian state a week ago.
The Kremlin dispatched humanitarian aid but rejected Ms Otunbayeva’s request for military help, saying the violence was an internal affair that had to be brought under control by the government of Kyrgyzstan.
Ms Otunbayeva also reiterated that the death toll from the violence in southern Kyrgyzstan was up to 10 times higher than the official toll of 192.
“I would increase the official death toll from southern Kyrgyzstan by ten times,” Ms Otunbayeva said.
Meanwhile, the United Nations Human Rights Council on Friday called on the Kyrgyz government to conduct a full and transparent probe into violence that broke out last week in the south of the country.
In a resolution adopted by consensus, the council “calls upon the government of the Kyrgyz Republic to conduct a full and transparent investigation that holds perpetrators accountable for the loss of life in relation to the events of 7 April 2010 and during the recent inter-ethnic violence.”
In April, some 87 people were killed in the popular uprising that ousted President Kurmanbek Bakiyev and triggered a change in the country’s government.
The resolution tabled by the United States and Kyrgyzstan originally focused on the events of the April uprising, but was broadened this week to add recent violence.