OREANDA-NEWS. June 16, 2010. The latest developments in southern Kyrgyzstan, having sharply aggravated the already tense situation in the country, cause us grave concern.

Osh and Jalalabad are partially destroyed, fires observable everywhere, shops and markets largely looted. There is an acute shortage of food and drinking water. The exodus of ethnic Uzbeks from Kyrgyzstan to the territory of Uzbekistan is continuing.

The leadership of the Russian Federation is in constant touch with the interim government of the Kyrgyz Republic. An operational exchange of views is being conducted with the concerned foreign states on the situation in the Central Asian country.

We continue to provide diverse humanitarian relief to the republic’s population. A number of people critically wounded in the clashes in southern Kyrgyzstan have been flown to Moscow by an MOE plane and placed in hospitals.

Right now in Bishkek, the Russian President’s special representative for relations with Kyrgyzstan, Vladimir Rushailo, is holding consultations with the leadership of the country.

Possibilities for the CSTO to assist in normalizing the situation in the republic were considered on June 14 at a meeting of the Committee of Secretaries of Security Councils of the Member States of the organization.

The Consulate General of the Russian Federation in Osh operates in working mode. On June 14 a group of Russian citizens was taken to Bishkek, including our specialists who had been visiting Osh on short trips. We stress it is not about an emergency evacuation, but the departure of people from the epicenter of the conflict, their provision with basic necessities not available in the zone of confrontation, especially food, water and medicine.