Cooperation with Kyrgyzstan on hydroelectric power plants could continue if Russian state company RusHydro receives compensations, First Deputy Chief of the Russian Government Staff Sergey Prikhodko said, according to Rambler.
Kyrgyzstan and Russia signed an agreement on joint construction of four hydroelectric power plants on the Naryn River in Kyrgyzstan in 2012. However, in 2016 Kyrgyzstan unilaterally withdrew from the agreement, claiming that the Russian side did not uphold its part of the deal. After that, the Russian company RusHydro asked Kyrgyzstan to return $37 million that it already spent on the project.
“The Russian side would be ready to consider resuming cooperation in the sphere of electric energy, including construction of new power plants in Kyrgyzstan, if the Kyrgyz side fulfills its obligations in the framework of the intergovernmental agreement on construction and operation of the Verkhne-Narynsky hydroelectric power plant from 20 September 2012, fully compensates RusHydro for sustained costs, and organizes cooperation on new conditions,” Prikhodko said.
He reminded that Kyrgyzstan asked Russia at the end of 2018 to consider resuming cooperation on the construction of the Verkhne-Narynsky hydroelectric power.
In June 2019, the two sides held bilateral expert consultations with participation of Russian companies on the construction of the Verkhne-Narynsky and Kambaratinskaya hydroelectric power plants.