These days are crucial for the future of Kyrgyzstan. The events that are now taking place will be decisive not only for this country. They will implicitly impact the situation in the whole of Central Asia, and in particular - the competition of the world's powers for this region. After the inauguration, on 14th of August, of Kurmanbek Bakiev, who came into power as a result of the March coup, the backdoor battle for power in Kyrgyzstan entered its final stage. The most important economic and strategic facilities in the Republic, as well as the main national institutions, are already taken under control by the relatives and confidants of the elected President. The issue that is
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| Felix Kulov (L) and Kurmanbek Bakiev |
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currently being decided on is the composition of the new cabinet. Formally, this should be decided by Felix Kulov, who at present is the Active Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan. Kulov and Bakiev previously were part of the former President Askar Akayev's close entourage.
In 2000-2002, these two men in fact became Akayev's main adversaries. In the course of the last months, Kulov and Bakiev publicly cooperate with each other. But as a matter of fact, they are the main rivals for power in the country. The President hopes to maximally restrain future Prime Minister's sphere of influence, and to turn him into a totally forceless state official, who can be later on claimed guilty of all blunders and mistakes of the new regime. The Active Prime Minister, in his turn, plans to concentrate all the power in his hands, making the President a totally nominal figure as it is, for instance, in Turkey and in Germany.
In this backstage confrontation, Kurmanbek Bakiev leans on his numerous relatives, assistants, and advisors, the majority of whom, like him, are the natives of the southern part of the country. On the contrary, it is considered that Felix Kulov does not have such a team. At least, almost all the Kyrgyz and regional commentators and journalists see it that way. At first sight, it is really so, though…
The Schoolmates
Felix Kulov has several confidants. He leans on their opinion when taking important decisions; consults them before negotiations with foreign delegates, and before important speeches. These people accompany Kulov for many years, and are totally trusted by him. They prefer to constantly remain in shadow, and the real range of their influence is evident only for the inner circle of the initiated. It can be said that these people form a think-tank of the Number Two in the country. Main figure in this group is the Yuri Sosnovsky, Doctor of Science - a totally unfamiliar persona, even to those, who have a good grasp of the Central-Asian politics.
Sosnovsky is not an ethnic Kirghiz, he is Jewish. His parents were evacuated from the European part of the USSR to the Soviet Kirghizia during the World War II, in the last year of which he was born. Sosnovsky family settled down in the same place, where the main part of the Russian-speaking emigrants did – in the city of Frundze, which is today's Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan. Here (three years after Sosnovsky's birth), Felix Kulov was born, and spent the most part of his life. Their lives went in completely different directions, Sosnovsky dedicating himself to science, while Kulov making a brilliant career in the republican Ministry of Interior. However, according to a person, who knows the Active Prime Minister closely, the two men got acquainted in their last school years. Later on, they parted for a rather long period, Kulov going to study in Russia, and Sosnovsky, in 1968, entering into Frundze Polytechnic Institute. After finishing his studies, Sosnovsky began scientific work in the local Institute of Physics and Mechanics of the Earth Material (IFMGP). He proved himself as a very talented and high-graded specialist, and already at the beginning of the 1970s, due to the publication of several scientific works, he gained publicity in his sphere not only in Kirghizia, but also in the USSR as a whole. During his scientific career, Sosnovsky published about sixty scientific papers. By the moment of the USSR collapse (in 1991), he headed the research lab in his institute. After gaining independence, the science in Kyrgyzstan quickly declined. High-graded scientists were either immigrating, or changing their field of activity. The latter was what Sosnovsky chose for himself.
The Businessman and the Minister
Sosnovsky stayed in Kyrgyzstan, and became a businessman. At the first stage of his entrepreneur activity he was selling everything, focusing mainly on food products (as these were what then had the best market). Due to his extraordinary abilities, and the
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| Felix Kulov as Minister of Interior |
connections from the past, his possibilities were growing rather quickly. In the first half of the 1990s, Sosnovsky made a wide range of business connections in the neighboring Kazakhstan and Russia. And by the end of the 1990s – beginning of the 2000s, he already had a number of very serious partners in Western Europe and the USA. Today, Sosnovsky formally owns only a one elite restaurant in the center of Bishkek. However, according to several foreign businessmen working in Kyrgyzstan, his real commercial interests spread far beyond this business.
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Former President Askar Akayev |
They say also that at the backstage, Sosnovsky has a real influence over a number of spheres in Republican economy, and his financial capabilities stretch far beyond Kyrgyzstan.
Permanent connection between Sosnovsky and Kulov resumed in the early 1990s, when the ex-scientist successfully began making business, and his ex-schoolmate, first was engaged in politics, and then – occupied the Minister's of Interior office. In conditions of that epoch (the corruption of the official apparatus; mutual dependence of business and mafia; influence of the businessmen and the criminal bosses over the authority), the two men could and did render each other a very fruitful assistance. At the first stage, this assistance was of a particular use for Sosnovsky, who, in particular due to Kulov's support, could not only be safely engaged in business, but could also safely increase his capital and influence. When, in the period from spring 1998 till spring 1999, Kulov was heading the City Hall of Bishkek, that was him, who needed the help of his friend. Soon after that, the President Askar Akayev saw Kulov as one of his main adversaries. In March, 2000, Kulov was arrested under a fake charge, and spent next five years in prison. During this period, Sosnovsky continued to keep in touch with him, while transferring most of his commercial activity abroad. After Akayev's overthrow in March this year, Kulov was released from prison. Sosnovsky immediately became one of his closest advisors.
On the Way to Olympus
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Government of Kyrgyzstan building |
In May, Felix Kulov and Kurmanbek Bakiev made a deal, according to which the former will support the latter during the presidential campaign, in exchange for the guarantees of obtaining the Prime Minister's office straight after the elections. Not long before these elections that took place on the 10th of July, Kulov offered Sosnovsky to be the Minister of Finance in his future cabinet. However, preferring to stay in shadow, Sosnovsky declined this offer. In the last time, Sosnovsky was working on the economic program for Kulov. Moreover, he had meetings with different foreign donors and potential investors on behalf of the future Prime Minister. It can be mentioned that in these contacts Sosnovsky was obviously orienting towards the West (and first of all, the USA), and not towards Russia. This fact is quite important in the atmosphere of a growing concurrence of these two powers for influence in Kyrgyzstan, and in Central Asia as a whole.
It is not clear yet whether Sosnovsky is going to be officially appointed as Kulov's economic advisor after the cabinet set-up, or he will rather continue to stay in shadow. It can be confidently claimed though, that if nothing extraordinary happens, the role of this 'gray eminence' in the internal politics and the economy of Kyrgyzstan will multiply itself in the near future…
Related items:
Chief of Kyrgyz National Guard Can Rely Only on Russia (16.08.05)
America Has Lost Kyrgyzstan (11.07.05)
The Battle for Kyrgyzia – The Kremlin is Leading 1:0 (09.05.05)
Bishkek Has Sent to Moscow the Person from the Past (05.05.05)
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