The Defense Minister of Kyrgyzstan Baktybek Bekbolotov commented on the April conflict at the Kyrgyz-Tajik border at a press conference today.
According to him, the CSTO member states cannot interfere in the conflict taking place in the member states of the alliance.
«Intervention of the CSTO in this conflict would be incorrect. Moreover, this conflict has been resolved between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. There are discussions in the media and society who won and who lost. We lost three — two officers and a warrant officer. If you want to get information about the losses of the neighboring side, I would advise you to go to the place and ask the local population. It was the army that stopped the conflict,» Baktybek Bekbolotov said.
The Minister of Defense also noted that the procurement of unmanned aerial vehicles is underway.
«We cannot announce the number of purchased UAVs since this is classified information,» he explained.
The border conflict took place on April 28 in the area of Golovnoi water distribution point. It developed into the use of army units and heavy equipment. A number of border villages in Batken region were attacked. The sides agreed on an armistice and the withdrawal of troops only on the evening of May 1.
189 Kyrgyz citizens were injured in the conflict, 36 people were killed, including children. More than 40,000 people were evacuated from the conflict zone. The Tajik side unofficially reported more than 150 wounded and about 16 killed.
