Translated material
"Uzbek dictator has Britain at gunpoint"
Britain is bargaining with one of the most brutal dictators on the planet, the Independent on Sunday claims. “We need to use his country to transit military equipment and other goods out of Afghanistan,” explain journalists Brian Brady and Jonathan Owen. The withdrawal of British troops is planned for 2014.
“It really does look like [Uzbekistan President Islam] Karimov is holding us at gunpoint,” an unnamed senior British Foreign Office source said on Saturday. An unnamed junior minister added: "If the Uzbeks ultimately refuse us, there are alternative options. But then everything will be much more complicated... it's worth trying to come to an agreement [with the Uzbek side]."
The transit corridor through Uzbekistan is now the most acceptable option, since relations between NATO countries and Pakistan have deteriorated, the publication explains. In February, British Defense Secretary Hammond held talks in Tashkent.
For their part, public organizations condemned ties with Uzbekistan and called on the British government not to curry favor with Karimov. There are accusations that torture, religious repression and forced child labor are practiced under his rule. Karimov is also accused of killing fellow citizens, in particular during the “massacre in Andijan,” as the publication puts it.
However, in return for assistance, Karimov demands that David Cameron visit Uzbekistan and invite Karimov himself to London on an official visit. "Former British ambassador to Uzbekistan Craig Murray also claimed that Karimov was asking permission to appoint his daughter Gulnara Karimova as Uzbekistan's ambassador to London," the article says. In cables published by WikiLeaks, American diplomats wrote that Karimova "is hated more than anyone in Uzbekistan" and that she has an "unquenchable thirst for money and power."
In March, British officials said Britain was funding a range of programs for Uzbekistan, including training Uzbek army officers.
Are there alternative transit routes? It is impossible through Iran or China, and Turkmenistan and Tajikistan are not ready to accept such large-scale flows of NATO cargo, journalists write.
http://www.inopressa.ru/article/09Apr2012/independent/uzbek.html