Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kyrgyzstan Jeenbek Kulubaev met with the U.S. Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Kyrgyz Republic Lesslie Viguerie. The press service of the Foreign Affairs Ministry reported.
During the meeting, the parties discussed expanding cooperation in the field of mutual trade, attracting investments, as well as interaction in the field of rare earth metals.
Jeenbek Kulubaev handed over to the U.S. Ambassador a response letter from the President of the Kyrgyz Republic Sadyr Japarov addressed to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken. It contains reasoned answers about the internal political situation and democratic processes in the country. However, the details of what the President of Kyrgyzstan wrote in the letter are not reported.
Earlier, Antony Blinken wrote a letter to the President of Kyrgyzstan in connection with Nadira Narmatova’s bill on foreign representatives. The U.S. Secretary of State believes that if the document is adopted, it will result in civil and criminal penalties for non-governmental organizations.
The foreign agents law was adopted by the committee in the second reading. The initiator of the amendments, Nadira Narmatova, proposes to introduce Article 200-1 «Creation of a non-profit organization that infringes on the personality and rights of citizens» into the Criminal Code. Violation of this article is punishable by a fine from 50,000 to 100,000 soms or imprisonment for up to five years. A fine from 100,000 to 200,000 soms or imprisonment of up to 10 years is proposed to be imposed for an active participation in the activities of such associations and propaganda of the actions of such organizations. The Supreme Court and the Prosecutor General’s Office opposed the initiative, as well as the Ombudsman. Now these terms have been reduced to three and five years in prison.
A number of international organizations opposed this initiative.
