Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has summoned his diplomats back to Kiev for immediate discussions over Kyrgyzstan and Georgia’s responses to Russia’s attack on the Eastern European nation.
Speaking in a video address on Tuesday, Zelensky announced the measures he is taking in relation to the two former Soviet Republics.
“Our diplomats are currently implementing just and absolutely necessary decisions regarding countries that have betrayed their word and international law,” the Ukrainian leader explained.
He added that Kiev “immediately recalls the ambassador from Kyrgyzstan…for [Bishkek’s officials] justifying aggression against Ukraine.” Meanwhile, Zelensky issued a similar demand to the representative from Georgia after Tbilisi’s government allegedly “created obstacles for volunteers who want to help us, [and] for the immoral position on sanctions.”
The decision comes after Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov apparently expressed support for his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin’s military offensive in Ukraine. According to a statement from the Kremlin on February 26, Bishkek’s leader acknowledged “Kiev’s responsibility for its failure to abide by the Minsk agreements and expressed support for the decisive actions undertaken by the Russian side to protect civilians in Donbass.”
However, the version of events provided by the Kyrgyz presidential administration did not mention the remarks of affirmation from Japarov, and only noted that the two leaders discussed the “current situation around Ukraine.”
Meanwhile, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili told reporters the day before that Tbilisi “does not plan to participate in the financial and economic sanctions, as this would only damage our country and populace more.”
Putin ordered the invasion into Ukraine last Thursday just hours after the leaders of the recently recognized breakaway Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics called for assistance in relation to what they claimed was a sharp spike in “aggression” from Ukraine’s armed forces.
A number of Western nations have hit Moscow with sanctions in response to its onslaught against its neighbor. In the wake of the attack, US President Joe Biden revealed a wave of punitive measures that are designed to impede Russia’s ability to do business in major currencies, as well as punitive measures against banks and state-owned enterprises.
On the same day, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen condemned what she described as “barbaric” military action and vowed to “present a package of massive, targeted sanctions.”
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