Kyrgyzstan interim President Rosa Otunbayeva has issued a new appeal to Moscow for military assistance amid the violence in her country, dpa quoted Moscow as saying this evening. The Defence Ministry confirmed that a request had been received for military assistance to protect key facilities in the Central Asian state. "A corresponding request has been received," an unnamed ministry official was cited by Interfax as saying. "But a final decision about a possible limited action in Kyrgyzstan has not yet been made." Russia would continue to monitor the situation. Otunbayeva had previously, on June 12, called for Russian military assistance to help curb the violence which had erupted between ethnic Kyrgyz and Uzbeks in the south of the country. But Moscow as quickly rejected the call, while at the same time taking measures to beef up security at its military base in northern Kyrgyzstan.
