MOSCOW, March 28 (Xinhuanet) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the government to consider aiding Kyrgyzstan where a new government took over at the weekend, the Itar-Tass news agency reported on Monday.

    "The Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry for Emergency Situations must consider the possibility of rendering aid to Kyrgyzstan," Putin said at Monday's meeting with cabinet members.

    A Russian delegation is expected to arrive in the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek on Wednesday to assess assistance for farmers currently in urgent need of farming machinery and fuel.

    "The people who are now controlling the situation in Kyrgyzstan have asked me for such aid," Putin said.

    The Russian president received a request for assistance during a telephone conversation Saturday with Kyrgyzstan's acting president Kurmanbek Bakiyev who was also sworn in as prime minister Monday.

    In reply to Bakiyev's request, Moscow has expressed its readiness to consider a range of projects to help stabilize the situation in Kyrgyzstan, Itar-Tass reported.

    Putin avoided commenting on events in Kyrgyzstan at Monday's cabinet meeting but pledged aid to the impoverished country.

    "There are stormy political processes there now and they are not over yet. We shall not comment on them in any way for the time being and, at the same time, having in view our special relations with the Kyrgyz people and with Kyrgyzstan and proceeding from humanitarian considerations, we shall render them aid in case of need," the president stated.

    On Friday, Putin said the developments in Kyrgyzstan did not come as a surprise to Russia. "They were due to the weakness of the authorities and the accumulated socio-economic problems within the country", he said.

    However, the Russian president expressed willingness to develop future relations with Kyrgyzstan.

    "I hope our future relations will develop positively and to the benefit of the peoples of Russia and Kyrgyzstan. The latest statements by opposition leaders confirm that such a development of our relations is perfectly possible," Putin said.

    "Russia will do everything to perpetuate the existing level of inter-state relations between our country and Kyrgyzstan, to promote the relations between our two peoples," Putin said.

    Moscow on Saturday granted asylum to Kyrgyzstan's outgoing President Askar Akayev at Akayev's request, the Interfax news agency quoted the Kremlin press service as saying. Enditem