Kyrgyzstan's ousted President Kurmanbek Bakiyev yesterday formally submitted a request to resign, a spokesman for the interim government that swept to power after protests said, hours after the former president left the country.
"Kurmanbek Bakiyev has submitted his resignation request. Now the new authorities have complete legitimacy," the spokesman said.
The former President Kurmanbek Bakiyev yesterday left the country for neighbouring Kazakhstan, in a surprise move coordinated by Russia and the United States aimed at quelling flaring tensions.
Mr Bakiyev made the dramatic late evening exit by plane from his home stronghold of Jalalabad in south Kyrgyzstan, the first time he had quit the country since violent protests that killed 84 swept him from power last week.
"This evening Kurmanbek Bakiyev flew out of Jalalabad on a plane to Kazakhstan," an official in Kyrgyzstan's interim government said.
Ilias Omarov, spokesman for the Kazakh foreign ministry, said he landed at around 1500 GMT at the airport in Taraz, a city in southern Kazakhstan on the border with Kyrgyzstan.
It was not clear if he intended to return to Kyrgyzstan.
But the Kyrgyz interim government in a statement described his departure as a "deportation" and said it would later seek his transfer to a Kyrgyz or international court for trial.
The foreign minister of Kazakhstan, who currently holds the rotating chairmanship of the OSCE, a trans-Atlantic security body, said Mr Bakiyev's flight had been jointly arranged by the Presidents of Russia and the United States.
"As a result of joint efforts of Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev, US President Barack Obama and Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev... an agreement was reached with the Interim Government of Kyrgyzstan and President Kurmanbek Bakiyev on his departure from the country," Kazakh Foreign Minister Kanat Saudabayev said. Mr Bakiyev's departure is "an important step towards the stabilisation of the situation" that would help prevent civil war in Kyrgyzstan, Mr Saudabayev said in a statement on the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe website.
Amid intense behind-the-scenes diplomacy, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin held telephone talks with Mr Bakiyev last Wednesday, his spokesman said, although the content of the discussion was not made public.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev had this week warned that Kyrgyzstan is standing on the brink of civil war, in an apparent effort to put pressure on Mr Bakiyev into formally resigning.
Mr Putin also held talks late yesterday with Mr Nazarbayev and Kyrgyzstan's interim leader Roza Otunbayeva, Russian news agencies said, but details of the conversations were not disclosed.
Earlier yesterday Mr Bakiyev had expressed his willingness to leave the country in comments reported by local Kyrgyz media.
"My next destination is now being discussed by the presidents of Russia, Kazakshtan and even the US. Nursultan Nazarbayev personally invited me to Kazakhstan," the ousted President was quoted as saying.
"However, understanding the situation in the country, I welcome the start of negotiations and am ready to accept any offers."
Ms Otunbayeva had this week demanded that Mr Bakiyev face trial for "spilling blood" during the protests amid fears that the standoff could erupt into civil war.
Kyrgyz media reported that interim government had arrested former defence minister Baktybek Kaliyev, accusing the key ally of Mr Bakiyev of giving orders to fire on unarmed civilians.
Mr Bakiyev's departure came as Robert Blake, US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian affairs, was in Bishkek as the first senior US official to visit Kyrgyzstan since the uprising.
"The United States strongly supports the efforts of the OSCE and the Kazakhstan chairman in office to find a resolution to the situation involving Mr Bakiyev," he told reporters earlier.
Washington is keen to maintain influence in Kyrgyzstan because the country hosts the Manas air base, which US forces use to support military operations in nearby Afghanistan. The interim government has promised to honour past accords.
Mr Bakiyev came to power in a popular uprising known as the Tulip Revolution in 2005, but in recent years he came under increasing criticism for authoritarianism and corruption.