Former Soviet States Should Reintegrate to Resolve Challenges - Ex-Kyrgyz Leader

Former Soviet republics must face modern challenges by integrating into the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), Askar Akayev, the former president of Kyrgyzstan and an active opponent of the 1991 August Putsch against Ex-Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, said on Thursday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — On Thursday, Russia and other post-Soviet states are marking the 25th anniversary of the August Putsch, when a group within the Soviet government attempted a coup against Gorbachev.

"The challenge facing the people and the republics of the former Soviet Union is to strength the Eurasian Economic Union…One of the laws of the globalization process is regional integration, and if we do not closely integrate, the Eurasian Union will not be robust and international aggression will slowly erode different republics away, driving them into a pitiful state," Akayev said during an event dedicated to the anniversary at the Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency.

Akayev served as Kyrgyzstan's first president between 1990 and 2005. In August 1991, he strongly supported Russia's first president, Boris Yeltsin, in his opposition to the coup. He vetoed the coup leaders' decision on Kyrgyzstan's territory and took the country to independence a few days later, on August 31. He was ousted from power in 2005 by the Tulip Revolution and currently resides in Russia, were he is engaged in scientific work.

The outfall of the former Soviet bloc's disintegration is clearly visible in the case of Ukraine, which has gone from one of the most prosperous Soviet states to one of Europe's poorest states, Akayev stressed.

"Look at the example of Ukraine. Ukraine was the most prosperous republic in the Soviet Union, they had excellent science…Today, there is no major science, no industry in Ukraine. I want to remind you that in 1990, Ukraine's annual per capita income was much higher than per capita income in Russia…And today, the per capita income is many times less than in Russia," he said.

The August Putsch started early on August 19, 1991. Led by Soviet Vice President Gennady Yanayev, the State Committee on the State of Emergency (GKChP), formed the day before, attempted to remove Gorbachev from power while he was on holiday in Crimea. The coup collapsed several days later, on August 22. The coup attempt is widely believed to have significantly contributed to the disintegration of the Soviet Union on December 26.