Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov threatens Gazprom with takeover of gas network

Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov said the country could return its gas system to state control if Russia's Gazprom fails to meet its gasification obligations. He made the remarks on 3 November during a meeting with residents of the Aitmatov and Manas districts of Talas region.

Japarov recalled that the gas system was sold to a Russian company in 2013 for a symbolic one dollar and that the agreement runs until about 2039. He said Kyrgyzstan cannot gasify its territory independently, as all issues must be agreed with Gazprom, the system's owner. He added that for the past two to three years he has raised the question of Gazprom fulfilling its obligation to finance gasification across the republic.

Japarov said he told Gazprom representatives that he would take the system back, as with Kumtor, and carry out gasification himself. He was referring to the Kumtor gold mine, which passed to state control in 2021 after a long dispute with Canada's Centerra Gold. Gazprom has not yet commented.