MOSCOW, May 14 (RIA Novosti) - The events in Uzbekistan should not be associated with the so-called velvet revolutions on the post-Soviet space, said Secretary General of the Eurasian Economic Community (EurAsEC) Grigory Rapota.
"Here we see not a political struggle but a tough opposition of the authorities and some extremist units. I would not associate the bloody riots in Uzbekistan with the orange revolution in Ukraine or the rose revolution in Georgia," Rapota told the Sodruzhestvo (Commonwealth) channel of the Golos Rossii (Russia's Voice) radio company.
According to him, the assault upon administrative offices, hostage-taking and release of criminals from jail prove that it is "a large-scale provocation of destructive forces caused by the poverty of population and socio-economic problems."
