Word: moscow
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Blame for the crash has fallen on the pilot, who reportedly ignored warnings from air traffic control and tried to land on Saturday morning in dense fog, snagging the tail of his plane on a tree about a mile from the airport. "The pilot was advised to fly to Moscow or Minsk because of heavy fog, but he still decided to land. No one should have been landing in that fog," an air traffic control official told Reuters, indicating that recklessness may be behind the tragedy. Russian law enforcement officials said they had opened an investigation, and Prime Minister Vladimir...
...part of a strategy of political blackmail and manipulation. In 2006, he even proposed that the European Union impose sanctions on Russia for its economic bullying in Eastern Europe. His animosity had deep roots. In 1980, he spent nearly a year in prison for "anti-socialist" activities when the Moscow-backed communist government imposed martial law in Poland. After his release, he became a leader of the underground Solidarity movement that campaigned for democratic reform, helping to topple the communist regime. (See pictures of the Buffalo, N.Y. plane crash...
...Whether or not Moscow played a part in encouraging the opposition, the turn of events marks a sudden reversal in relations between the two countries. Ties between the Kremlin and Bakiyev's government had deteriorated sharply in recent months, in part because of Bakiyev's powerful son Maxim, who had acted as a negotiator with the U.S. over the use of the Manas air base outside the capital, Bishkek, to ferry supplies to U.S. troops in Afghanistan. (Amid Wednesday's upheaval, the U.S. State Department said Maxim Bakiyev was on his way to the U.S. for consultations.) The opposition...
...Kyrgyz opposition, meanwhile, took up the Russian cause in recent months, expressing deep concerns that Bakiyev's government was siding too closely with the Americans at the expense of traditional ties with Moscow. Otunbayeva was at the forefront of this initiative. In February, when she was still an opposition leader in the Kyrgyz parliament, she told Bakiyev's government that it "must not act the way it's acting toward Russia, which is our strategic partner and ally...
...remains to be seen what shape Otunbayeva's foreign policy will take. In the past, the 53-year-old career diplomat has served as both a Soviet apparatchik in Moscow and a Kyrgyz ambassador to the U.S., Britain and Canada. While the country remains in a state of limbo, Otunbayeva and the other revolution leaders have tempered their pro-Russia rhetoric, focusing on the consolidation of power at home rather than jumping into foreign policy dilemmas. They've said the U.S. can continue operating its military base for now, and they've pledged to hold elections in six months, although...