Kyrgyz President’s Whereabouts in Question With Country in Chaos

(Bloomberg) -- A top Kyrgyz security official said Thursday he can’t find the president, three days after protesters stormed the parliament and brought down the government, although his office said he’s still in charge.

President Sooronbay Jeenbekov and Prime Minister Kubatbek Boronov have not been seen since the elections on Sunday, security council official Omurbek Suvanaliyev said, according to Interfax. The country’s borders have been shut, he added.

Jeenbekov is in the capital and personally holding talks with all political forces about the crisis, Tass reported Thursday, citing his spokesman.

Attempts to reach the presidential administration and security council were unsuccessful.

Demonstrators protesting the elections forced the government to resign and the Central Election Commission to annul the results this week, leaving a power vacuum. Boronov resigned Tuesday, after which least two parties have claimed that one of their members is prime minister.

Russia is backing Suvanaliyev as acting head of the State Committee for National Security and its Federal Security Service chief Alexander Bortnikov spoke with him on Wednesday, according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

“The situation seems like a total mess and chaos,” Peskov said Thursday in a conference call with journalists. “We hope that the efforts of the acting Security Council and Chairman of the State Committee for National Security will help stabilize the situation.”

Kyrgyzstan, a country of 6.5 million, is one of the poorest countries in central Asia, economically reliant on remittances from workers abroad, agriculture and minerals production. A close Russian ally, the country is a member of the Moscow-led Eurasian Union. Two of its presidents have been toppled by popular protests since 2005.

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