Kyrgyz elite pushed aside by nationalist adversaries

Significance

The detention is a success for new Prime Minister Sadyr Japarov, not as a strike against organised crime but as the possible removal of a powerful Jeenbekov-era figure. Japarov's swift rise to the positions of prime minister and acting president was orchestrated by nationalist factions and business interest groups, many with past links to Kurmanbek Bakiyev, deposed as president in 2010.

Impacts

• Saparov and his allies are now responsible for governing a country mired in a COVID-19 health crisis and in dire economic straits.
• The Kremlin picked the losing side: its envoy arrived belatedly and met a president already on his way out.
• The new government will be pro-Russian but Moscow will wary of allies of Bakiyev, who played it off against Washington.