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Kremlin official: Political squabbles could lead to Russia's disintegration
By wire services
Published April 5, 2005
MOSCOW - Infighting among top Russian political leaders, rattled by popular uprisings in three ex-Soviet republics, may cause a rift that puts Russia at risk of breaking up, President Vladimir Putin's chief of staff warned in an interview published Monday.
Analysts said the comments by Dmitry Medvedev, a member of Putin's inner circle, appeared to be an attempt to bolster the authority of Putin's administration.
In the interview in the magazine Expert, Medvedev said infighting among politicians may cause Russia to collapse, making the 1991 breakup of the Soviet Union seem like a "kindergarten party."
"If we do not manage to consolidate elites, Russia may disappear as a unified state," Medvedev said. "And then everybody will be in trouble, including our immediate and distant neighbors."
Kyrgyzstan president agrees to resign
MOSCOW - Askar Akayev signed his resignation as Kyrgyzstan's president Monday, lawmakers said, raising hopes of ending turmoil in the strategic Central Asian country 11 days after he fled ahead of protesters storming his offices.
Kyrgyzstan is the third former Soviet republic to be upended by protests. Uprisings in Ukraine last year and Georgia in 2003 forced out entrenched leaders.
The United States is Kyrgyzstan's biggest donor, with assistance of nearly $800-million since the 1991 Soviet collapse.
Akayev signed his resignation, to be effective today, at the Kyrgyz Embassy in Moscow, a day after meeting with a delegation representing Kyrgyzstan's interim leadership headed by Parliament Speaker Omurbek Tekebayev.
Saudi forces clash with likely al-Qaida militants
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - Seven suspected al-Qaida militants were killed in a shootout with Saudi security forces in central Saudi Arabia, the Interior Ministry said Monday.
The statement, broadcast on state-run television, said another militant was hospitalized in critical condition.
A number of security forces were injured and treated before being released from hospital, the statement said. An official said earlier that the 35 police had been wounded in the fighting, which began early Sunday in ar-Rass.
The fighting began after police cornered several militants in the town's Jawazat district. Ar-Rass is near Buraydah, a known stronghold of Islamic fundamentalists in the kingdom.
[Last modified April 5, 2005, 01:32:04]
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