Gabriel Gavin, in Moscow
Nearly three decades ago, Kyrgyzstan signed a deal designed to enrich the mountainous nation and its people. Now though, with warnings of human rights abuses and ecological catastrophe, it appears ready to tear up the agreement.
The long-running stand-off over the Kumtor Mine, operated by Toronto-based Centerra Gold, has spilled over into outright conflict. The new president of the Central Asian former Soviet Republic, Sadyr Japarov, a long-time critic of the company, signed a law earlier this month that would allow the state to step in and impose new management on the dig site if investigations determine that it has breached environmental standards. Then, last week, just as Centerra was launching an international legal appeal, Japarov's government moved to take total control of the site and shut out the Canadian firm.