Climbers from Kyrgyzstan remove the Ukraine flag

Kyrgyzstan’s climbing federation stated Friday that it had removed a Ukraine flag from a mountain named after Russian President Vladimir Putin, following a police probe.

A climber identified on Twitter earlier this week released a video of a Ukrainian flag flying next to a monument identifying the peak as Peak Putin, 4,446 metres (14,587 feet) above sea level.

Despite initial police recommendations that the culprits may be penalised, the user stated that she and her climbing companion had been interrogated but not prosecuted by municipal police.

In a Twitter post on Tuesday, the climber did not admit to putting up the flag, instead blaming the prank on “some kind of hooligans.”

On Thursday, however, members of the former Soviet republic’s mountain climbing organisation removed the flag and replaced it with a Kyrgyz flag.

On Friday, federation director Eduard Kubatov told AFP that the decision to take down the Ukrainian flag was made “no sort of politics” and that the expedition was carried out on the federation’s own initiative.

“It is unpleasant for me that I have been dragged into politics. Kyrgyz flags should fly on Kyrgyz mountains, of that I am sure,” Kubatov remarked over the phone.

The government of Kyrgyzstan, which is mountainous and destitute, is a staunch Russian friend, though there have been hints of dissatisfaction with Moscow’s conflict in Ukraine and the vociferous Kremlin propaganda defending it.

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