The Washington Post reports that "Kremlin-friendly television stations and newspapers" and Russian economic sanctions played a key role in the toppling of Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev.

Though Bakiyev fled the country on April 7, he has refused to resign his post.

Kyrgyzstan provides a key air base to U.S. forces engaged in Afghanistan. Allegations of corruption in supplying the base by officials figured in the toppling of both the previous government and that of Bakiyev, according to the New York Times.

The effort to topple Bakiyev, the Post reported, "...was a sharp departure from Russia's traditional support for ...