You're reading: Minsk declines to comment on Bakiyev’s possible asylum application

The Belarusian Interior Ministry's chief citizenship and migration officer Alexei Begun has refused to say whether Kyrgyz ousted president Kurmanbek Bakiyev had asked the country's authorities to grant him asylum.

"The Belarusian Constitution guarantees non-disclosure of the information about when a foreign national applies for asylum," Begun told a press conference in Minsk on Thursday.

"Disclosure of such information requires consent from that individual. Therefore I cannot say whether Bakiyev applied for asylum with the Belarusian authorities or the current status of this matter," the Belarusian migration official said.