Kyrgyzstan formally terminates 1993 cooperation agreement with U.S.

REUTERS

Prime Minister Temir Sariyev signed a government directive terminating the agreement on cooperation to facilitate the provision of assistance, the Kyrgyz government's press service reported, RFE/RL wrote.

The agreement will be rescinded as of August 20, 2015.

The move comes after Kyrgyzstan's Foreign Ministry on July 17 protested a U.S. decision to grant a human rights award to Azimjon Askarov, a journalist and rights activist who is serving a life sentence in a Bishkek prison on charges of "creating a threat to civil peace and stability in society."

Askarov, an ethnic Uzbek, was convicted following interethnic clashes in southern Kyrgyzstan in June 2010 when more than 400 people were killed.