By Aigerim Turgunbaeva
BISHKEK, Feb 10 (Reuters) - President Sadyr Japarov on Tuesday signed decrees removing Kamchybek Tashiev - a longtime ally seen as Kyrgyzstan’s second-most influential official - as head of the State Committee for National Security and deputy prime minister.
Tashiev had held top security and government roles since 2020, when he and Japarov rode into power on a wave of protests against alleged election rigging.
Local media cited Japarov's press secretary as saying that the president had made the decision "with the intention of preventing division in society, including between government agencies, but rather strengthening unity."
There was no immediate comment from Tashiev. Several other senior security officials who had been working under Tashiev were also sacked by presidential order.
A mountainous country of 7 million that maintains close ties with Russia, Kyrgyzstan has come under scrutiny from Western powers who say it has become one of the major facilitators of Russian evasion of sanctions imposed over the war in Ukraine.
Japarov and Tashiev were seen by supporters as having brought an end to years of political turbulence in the Central Asian republic by consolidating power and building alliances among political elites in both the north and south.
Critics say they have cracked down on dissent and free media in what had been regarded as Central Asia's most democratic country.
Analysts say that Tashiev had served as the domestic face of the government, appearing on state television regularly to defend Japarov's record.
Local media reported that the security chief, whose power base is in Kyrgyzstan's historically restive southern provinces, is in Germany undergoing medical treatment.
In a separate decree, Japarov appointed Jumgalbek Shabdanbekov as acting chairman of the State Committee for National Security, pending parliamentary approval, the presidential website said.
(Reporting by Aigerim Turgunbaeva; writing by Felix Light; editing by Mark Heinrich)
