Bakiyev: I’m not going

Ousted Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev has broken his silence to tell the media that he has no plans to negotiate his resignation:  He told BBC Russian he was in southern Kyrgyzstan but would not disclose the exact location. Mr Bakiyev said he was the legitimate president and condemned the uprising, saying "armed people are strolling ...

By , a former associate editor at Foreign Policy.

Ousted Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev has broken his silence to tell the media that he has no plans to negotiate his resignation: 

Ousted Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev has broken his silence to tell the media that he has no plans to negotiate his resignation: 

He told BBC Russian he was in southern Kyrgyzstan but would not disclose the exact location.

Mr Bakiyev said he was the legitimate president and condemned the uprising, saying "armed people are strolling the streets of the capital – stealing things, looting and pillaging, killing people. And this new ‘interim government’… is completely incapable of imposing order – and they’re simply blaming the president for everything."

But he added: "If this so-called ‘temporary’ government that has appointed itself is prepared to begin negotiation talks, then I’m prepared to listen to them."

In an earlier interview with Russia’s Ekho Moskvy radio station he insisted he had "no plans" to leave Kyrgyzstan but admitted: "I don’t have any real levers of power."

Joshua Keating was an associate editor at Foreign Policy. Twitter: @joshuakeating

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