Something similar happened in both Ukraine and Kirgizstan, where Leonid Kuchma and Askar Akaev turned to Moscow when the going got tough.

ECONOMIST: Uzbekistan

The affair has undermined the authority of President Askar Akaev's government.

ECONOMIST: Warnings for two governments

Askar Akaev may have been the least repressive despot in a bad neighbourhood, but he, his family and his cronies had monopolised power, and the state's meagre resources, for far too long.

ECONOMIST: Revolution reaches the steppe