Afternoon and night of tension and clashes between Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.
It started with the accusation of using spy drones and led to a real battle with the use of mortars and grenade launchers between two member countries of the CSTO, the "Russian NATO" which had made less than two talk about itself weeks ago during the crisis in Kazakhstan. Official figures from Tajikistan speak of the wounding of eleven soldiers and two civilians. The Kyrgyz border service denied the use of drones, accused the Tajik "allies" of the escalation.
In the evening, a pacifying telephone conversation between the first deputy head of the border guards of Kyrgyzstan and the commander of the border guards of Tajikistan was useless: at 23 pm Tajikistan continued to target the positions of the Kyrgyz border guards in artillery strikes and, above all, began to move reinforcements in the area. In this regard, Kyrgyzstan complains that - despite negotiating a ceasefire - Tajikistan has never ceased attacks.
In the last few hours, some border villages in the Batken district of Kyrgyzstan have been evacuated, among those exposed to the fire.
A meeting of the governors of the Kyrgyz region of Batken and the Tajik district of Sogdiy should take place during the night or at the first light of dawn.
For now, the invitation of the secretary general of the CSTO to immediately cease hostilities between "allied" countries has fallen on deaf ears.
Part of the Batken region (Ak-Sai, Kok-Tash, Orto-Boz, Zhany-Bak, Tash-Tumshuk, Kok-Terek villages) was hit by blackout, after the power line was damaged in the clashes, it is still impossible to make repairs
In the same hours, the strategic blackout of the CSTO was joined by a massive electricity blackout extended to Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. A chain failure caused multiple power plants to shut down. No water, no telephones and no flights in the region.
Photo: Kyrgyzstan presidency
