NEWS

Putin Hosts Karimov on Andijan Anniversary

By Oksana Yablokova

Staff Writer

MOSCOW — President Vladimir Putin praised blossoming ties with Uzbekistan during warm talks with Uzbek President Islam Karimov in Sochi on the eve of the first anniversary of the bloody crackdown in Andijan.

The timing of Friday’s meeting rankled human rights activists, who accused Putin, at best, of tacitly supporting the May 13, 2005, violence.

The European Union and the United States reiterated calls for Uzbekistan to provide a full account of what happened in Andijan, where witnesses and activists say Uzbek troops abruptly opened fire on a mostly unarmed crowd, killing hundreds of people.

Karimov has drawn his country closer to Russia amid Western criticism over Andijan, and Putin was visibly annoyed Friday when a reporter asked him why the Kremlin supported the Uzbek government.

“We know better than you what happened in Andijan,” he snapped back.

Russia’s long-held position is that criminals with the aid of terrorists attempted to stage an uprising.

Neither the Kremlin press service nor the Uzbek Embassy could say whether it was a coincidence that Friday’s talks coincided with the Andijan anniversary. A Kremlin spokeswoman said she was unaware of how the date had been picked, while Uzbek Embassy spokesman Muzafar Zakhidov could not be reached for comment. Other embassy officials, reached by telephone, declined to comment.

The Kremlin web site said only that Karimov had arrived “for a working visit at the invitation of the Russian side.”

Putin arrived at his Bocharov Ruchei summer residence on the Black Sea on Thursday, a day after delivering his annual state-of-the-nation address. He is to host Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday and participate in a Russia-EU meeting on May 25, said a statement posted on Kremlin.ru.

As he welcomed Karimov, Putin hailed a recently ratified treaty between their two countries that aims to strengthen political, economic, security and humanitarian ties.

“This is ... a step toward creating qualitatively new cooperation,” Putin said in televised remarks as his black labrador Connie played nearby. “We must also note the positive trend in our trade and economic cooperation.”

Putin said the talks would focus on the treaty and the situation in Central Asia, which Russia considers part of its sphere of influence. “We are not at all indifferent about this because it is our home,” he said.

Karimov took a swipe at the United States, which was evicted from its military base in Uzbekistan after criticizing Andijan. “We are seeing very serious challenges and attempts by powers from outside the region to establish a presence,” he said, Itar-Tass reported.

Putin and Karimov also discussed energy cooperation, and Karimov invited Russian companies to participate in privatization auctions for Uzbek enterprises, RIA-Novosti reported.

“There are great prospects for developing relations, not only with LUKoil and Gazprom but with other big Russian companies,” Karimov said.

Russia strengthened its gas partnership with Uzbekistan in January, when Gazprom signed a deal to buy more gas this year from Uzbekistan, helping to secure gas supplies for Ukraine under a controversial deal with trader RosUkrEnergo.

Vitaly Ponomaryov, head of the Central Asia program for rights group Memorial, sharply criticized the meeting and likened Andijan to tsarist Russia’s Bloody Sunday, when palace guards opened fire on a peaceful procession of about 140,000 workers in St. Petersburg on Jan. 22, 1905, killing and wounding some 4,600 people.

“This is a symbolic gesture by Russia and Putin to show support for Karimov despite the fact that the [Andijan] massacre can be compared to the 1905 Bloody Sunday,” Ponomaryov said.

Human Rights Watch on Friday urged the United States to impose visa bans against Karimov and other senior officials to mirror EU sanctions imposed last fall.

It also called on both the EU and the United States to freeze the foreign assets of all officials on the visa ban list.

“This was a disproportionate use of force against unarmed civilians, and for Russia to support it is shocking and very telling about Russia’s relation to human rights,” said Allison Gill, head of the Human Rights Watch Moscow office.

Gill noted that Russia had assisted the Uzbek government in hunting down Uzbeks abroad.

Fourteen Uzbeks wanted in connection with Andijan are waiting in Ivanovo for a final court decision on their extradition to Uzbekistan, she said.

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana issued a statement condemning “the continuing refusal of the Uzbek authorities to heed the calls of the EU and others for a credible investigation into those events.”

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour said in a statement that no internationally accepted account of the Andijan events had been established.

U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the Uzbek government “still owes the victims and survivors a full accounting of what took place,” The Associated Press reported.

McCormack said the U.S. administration would not rule out support for sanctions against Uzbekistan. Two Republican lawmakers introduced sanctions legislation earlier in the week.

Rights activists urged the Ukrainian government on Saturday to ensure that 11 Uzbeks who were deported in February amid widespread international criticism receive fair treatment by Uzbek authorities, the AP reported.

Ukraine says those deported were members of an al-Qaida-linked terror group and had been trying to spread radical propaganda in Ukraine.

Plainclothes security officers on Friday broke up a small demonstration of activists in the Uzbek capital, Tashkent, demanding an independent probe into the Andijan crackdown, the AP reported.

Nine activists gathered at a memorial to victims of a 1966 earthquake that leveled the city, placing red carnations and a stuffed toy bear on the monument. They then unfurled banners reading, “Shame on Uzbekistan, shame on Islam Karimov,” and calling for “an independent investigation into the Andijan events” — prompting plainclothes officers to rush from across the street to grab the posters and take them away after a brief struggle.

The demonstrators remained for about half an hour before dispersing.

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