ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan, Nov. 26 (UPI) -- Russian politicians were behind Monday's apparent assassination attempt against Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov, a top Turkmen official said Tuesday.
"I cannot say that this (was organized) in Russia, but I can officially say that in Russia there are political figures patronizing the organizers of the (assassination) attempt," Serdar Durdyev, the head of the Department for International Information at the Turkmen president's office, said.
Durdyev said the attack on Niyazov was ordered and organized outside Turkmenistan.
On Monday, attackers opened fire at Niyazov's motorcade as it traveled to the presidential palace in Ashgabat. The president, who later said he had not realized he was being fired upon, was unharmed. No one was hurt.
"One of very high officials in the Russian government" helped Khudayberdy Orazov, a Niyazov opponent, to leave Turkmenistan illegally a year ago, Durdyev said.
He said Turkmen authorities had recorded a telephone conversation between a Russian official and Orazov, in which the former Turkmen deputy prime minister asked the Russian for his help in leaving the country.
Relations between the two nations have been strained over Moscow's perception that Niyazov is blocking the division of the Caspian Sea's vast mineral wealth. Earlier this year, there were rumors Russia was supporting a coup against Niyazov.
Durdyev said Orazov, former Foreign Minister Boris Shikhmuradov and Nurmukhammed Hanamov, the former Turkmen ambassador to Turkey and Israel, were the financial and ideological backers of the assassination bid.
On Monday, Niyazov also blamed former Agriculture Deputy Minister Saparmurad Yklymov for the shooting. Yklymov, who lives in Sweden, denied any role and said Turkmen authorities had detained his relatives.
Durdyev said 16 people had been arrested in connection with Monday's attack, including four Georgians.
Turkmen officials called the incident "an act of international terrorism." Critics said, however, Niyazov staged the attack.
In its 2001 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, the U.S. State Department called Turkmenistan "a one-party state dominated by its president and his closest advisers, who continue to exercise power in a Soviet-era authoritarian style."
Earlier this year, the People's Council of Turkmenistan declared Niyazov president for life. The president, who is known as Turkmenbashi (head of all Turkmens), was the head of the Turkmen Communist Party in 1985 and has been president since his country became independent in 1991. The Democratic Party, the successor of the Communist Party, is the country's sole political group.
(Marina Kozlova reported from Tashkent, Uzbekistan)
