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President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Mr President, friends,

I am happy to welcome you to Moscow.

President Atambayev and I met yesterday in an informal setting and discussed the entire range of bilateral issues, as well as regional and some international questions.

I am glad that we have an opportunity to meet in both restricted and expanded formats for substantive discussions on the development of our bilateral relations, our recent achievements – we have accomplished a great deal – and our plans for the future, including in the multilateral format of the Eurasian Economic Union, as well as on regional issues.

We are very close allies and reliable friends. We are aware of the transformations that took place in Russia in the past and in Kyrgyzstan in the past decade. We sincerely hope that this period of instability is over. Thanks to Mr Atambayev’s efforts, the situation in Kyrgyzstan has normalised and is irreversibly on the path of positive development. I congratulate you on this achievement.

President of Kyrgyzstan Almazbek Atambayev: Thank you.

Vladimir Putin: I hope that the achievements you made during your presidency, which will end in the next few months, will be carried on, and that we will continue to strengthen our bilateral relations and the situation in the region as a whole.

Almazbek Atambayev: Thank you, Mr President.

Yesterday we had a good opportunity to summarise the results, because, as you said, I have just a few months left, before Kyrgyzstan has a new President.

I would like to assure you that Kyrgyzstan would certainly never turn off this road found as a result of difficult pursuits. And, summing up the preliminary results of my work, I think one of the main achievements for the years of my presidency is that we have navigated our relations with Russia exactly into the channel of strategic cooperation, of friendship and brotherhood – the way they should be. We in Kyrgyzstan know that Russia is our greater homeland, as our roots are the Altai civilisation. And of course, we should always be together. We should always be together and continue the work of our fathers.

I would like to thank our Russian partners, the Russian Government and you personally – over the years of my work, one year as prime minister and six years as president, Kyrgyzstan has received immense help. I could cite the figures, but there was moral support as well – I felt it was always there, as you have said, truly fraternal support. This, of course, helped us overcome many difficulties and problems.

Once again I want to say that the situation in our country is completely different now. Most importantly, I am pleased about the prevailing attitude that this is what our relationship with Russia should be like, that there must be stability in the country. The country should grow; it should engage in political games less and take care of its economy more.

I am grateful for your invitation, for the respect, cordiality and warmth I see here every time.

Thank you

Vladimir Putin: Thank you.

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