Bakiyev in Belarus, says Lukashenko

MINSK/BISHKEK - Belarussian leader Alexander Lukashenko said on Tuesday that Kyrgyzstan's former president, Kurmanbek Bakiyev, was in the Belarussian capital, Minsk.

Before he fled Kyrgyzstan, Bakiyev had said that Lukashenko had offered him political asylum.

"He is with us under the defence of our state and president," Lukashenko told the Belarussian parliament. "He is the president of a state with which we are friendly."