WASHINGTON: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will deliver an address on Tuesday evening at the Ronald Reagan Institute in Washington, the institute said in a statement, as the Ukrainian leader looks to drum up more support for the war against Russia’s invasion during this week’s NATO summit.
“President Reagan understood the Soviet Union and Russia. He knew that free countries must stand together with confidence whenever tyranny is on the move,” Oksana Markarova, Ukraine’s ambassador to the United States, said in the statement, referring to the Republican US president from 1981 to 1989.
NATO is not expected to invite Ukraine to become a member at this year’s July 9-11 gathering. Many NATO countries want to state that Ukraine’s path to membership is “irreversible” but alliance members are still wrangling over the summit declaration.
Ukraine’s Zelensky to deliver address at Washington’s Reagan Institute on Tuesday
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Ukraine’s Zelensky to deliver address at Washington’s Reagan Institute on Tuesday
- Zelensky looks to drum up more support for the war against Russia’s invasion during this week’s NATO summit
Kyrgyzstan parliament speaker resigns after spy chief sacking
- Japarov is seeking re-election next year in a country that was once a regional leader in terms of openness
BISHKEK: Kyrgyzstan’s parliament speaker said Thursday he would step down, two days after President Sadyr Japarov dismissed the Central Asian country’s powerful secret service chief and arrested political figures who called for early elections.
In a surprise move, Japarov had sacked his one-time close ally — spy chief Kamchybek Tashiev — in a decision Bishkek said was meant to “prevent division in society.”
Japarov is seeking re-election next year in a country that was once a regional leader in terms of openness, though marked by political volatility.
Rights groups have accused him of authoritarian tendencies, as he seeks to assert his control and cast himself as a bringer of stability.
Speaker Nurlanbek Turgunbek uulu — close to the sacked security boss — told MPs he would step down, insisting that he was not resigning under pressure.
“Reforms initiated by the president must be carried out. Political stability is indispensable,” he said.
Kyrgyzstan has in recent years been de-facto governed by the Japarov-Tashiev tandem.
Both came to power in the wake of the 2020 revolution — the third since Bishkek gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.
Several NGOs have in recent months denounced the deterioration of freedom of expression in Kyrgyzstan.
Japarov had unexpectedly sacked Tashiev and three of his deputies on Tuesday, also weakening the powers of the secret services.
Japarov rarely speaks publicly. His spokesman had said the decision was taken “in the interests of the state, with the aim of preventing divisions within society, including between government structures, and to strengthen unity.”
Tashiev was in Germany for health treatment when the sacking was announced and had said it was a “total surprise” to him.
The decision came the day after the publication of an open letter from 75 political figures and ex-officials calling to bring forward presidential elections — scheduled for January 2027.
Five of those who signed the letter — which criticized the economic situation in the country — were arrested Wednesday on charges of organizing mass riots.
