Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, ousted in an uprising last week, said yesterday he would not resign and that any attempt to kill him would "drown Kyrgyzstan in blood".
The leader of the new interim government, meanwhile, said Mr Bakiyev could be put on trial for responsibility for the killings of at least 81 people during the rebellion against him.
The April 7 revolt in the Central Asian nation, where the United States operates an important military base, forced Mr Bakiyev to flee to his southern home region, locking him in a standoff with the self-proclaimed government in Bishkek. Citing security concerns, Washington has stopped troops flying to Afghanistan via the air base outside the capital.
Speaking in a traditional "yurt" tent in Jalalabad region, Mr Bakiyev, 60, said he did not recognise the legitimacy of the interim government but was prepared for talks.
"I would like to warn those who are now hunting for me: don't be contract killers, because this will only bring huge tragedy to the country," he said.
"We will drown (Kyrgyzstan) in blood if they opt for physical elimination. If they use force, then those people surrounding me will not let it happen, and this will mean bloodshed."
A mountainous Muslim nation bordering China, Kyrgyzstan's $4.7 billion economy has attracted little foreign investment since winning independence from the Soviet Union, but the US and Russia are jostling for influence in Central Asia.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke by phone on Saturday with interim government head Roza Otunbayeva, in the first high-level US contact with the new leadership.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was the first world leader to recognise Ms Otunbayeva's authority, holding a phone conversation just hours after the opposition took power. Once a key Bakiyev ally who helped propel him to power in an earlier revolution in 2005, Ms Otunbayeva said in an interview she would not use force against Mr Bakiyev but spoke of arresting him to put him on trial for the deaths.
"Bakiyev has to understand that he is stuck in a deadlock," Ms Otunbayeva said yesterday. "When he is arrested then... it will be possible to carry out an investigation and question him within the framework of law."
She added: "What he did calls for a serious trial". Ms Otunbayeva has accused Mr Bakiyev's supporters of stoking violence in the aftermath of the uprising.
The self-proclaimed government has said Russia is its key ally and some leading ministers have said the US lease on the base could be shortened, raising speculation that Moscow could try to use the base as a lever in relations with Washington. Pentagon officials say the Manas air base is key to the war against the Taliban, allowing round-the-clock flights in and out of Afghanistan. Some 50,000 troops passed through it last month.
In the call with Mrs Clinton, Ms Otunbayeva pledged to honour agreements on the Manas base.
During the night of April 7-8, troops loyal to Mr Bakiyev shot into crowds of thousands of protesters besieging the presidential White House, killing dozens. Many protesters, armed with weapons seized from Mr Bakiyev's security forces, fought back, and witnesses said some people may have been killed in the ensuing crossfire, witnesses said.