Kyrgyz NEXT TV Reporters Questioned Over Report On War In Ukraine

BISHKEK -- Two journalists from NEXT television in Kyrgyzstan have been questioned by the State Committee for National Security over a recent report from the media outlet on Russia's invasion of Ukraine that officials alleged may have incited interethnic hatred.

Station owner Ravshan Jeenbekov said on March 7 that two other reporters for the channel will be questioned later in the day over a report it aired in which an interviewee alleged the existence of an agreement between Bishkek and Moscow to send troops to Ukraine to assist Russian armed forces.

Last week, a court in Bishkek sent NEXT's chief editor, Taalai Duishembiev, to pretrial detention for two months over the report, which quoted the exiled former chief of the Committee for National Security of neighboring Kazakhstan, Alnur Musaev, as saying that Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan had agreed to support Moscow's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine by sending troops to help Russia.

There has been no evidence of Tajik or Kyrgyz troops fighting in Ukraine since the invasion was launched on February 24.

Jeenbekov has rejected the charge, insisting that the report quoted Musaev directly while giving other people's views on the issue, as well.

The Kyrgyz Foreign Ministry rejected the report and has called on local media outlets to base their reporting on the ongoing war in Ukraine solely on official government statements.

Also on March 7, Bishkek police spokesman Baikazy Aitikul told RFE/RL that police have begun fining owners of cars that have a "Z" symbol on their vehicles to express their support for Russian troops in Ukraine.

Many Russian armored vehicles, tanks, and other equipment are marked with that letter, though it is not clear why. Some say it could be for "Za pobedy" or "For Victory" in Russian. Other say it may be for "Zapad" or "West" in Russian.

Aitikul added that the sign is illegal as it was never approved by traffic laws and the fine for having such a sign is 5,500 soms ($56).

On March 5, Kyrgyz Foreign Minister Ruslan Kazakbaev, who met with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, in Moscow that day, called Russia a strategic partner with "especially privileged ties based on mutual trust and understanding on bilateral level and in frames of integrational unions and international organizations."

In neighboring Uzbekistan, authorities started summoning journalists for questioning over their reports about the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine. Several journalists told RFE/RL that they were instructed to be "unbiased and neutral" while covering the war due to the situation in Ukraine being "sensitive."

With reporting by RFE/RL's Uzbek Service