Kyrgyzstan teeters on the brink of a third revolution

Significance

Political structures collapsed within 24 hours of the first protests against the results. The electoral authorities annulled the results and Jeenbekov swiftly offered compromise, though perhaps too late in this fast-moving situation.

Impacts

• Attacks on gold mining firms including Canadian-owned Kumtor will create investor concerns.
• Russia is preoccupied with Belarus and Nagorno-Karabakh, and anyway lacks leverage in this intra-Kyrgyz crisis.
• Kyrgyzstan is exposed to China with USD1.8bn in debt, but Beijing, too, will refrain from interfering.