Uzbekistan's longtime ruler Islam Karimov hospitalized
MOSCOW- Uzbekistan's government issued an unusual statement on Sunday announcing the hospitalization of President Islam Karimov, who has ruled the former Soviet republic in Central Asia for more than 25 years.
The statement gave no details about the nature of the illness suffered by the 78-year-old president or his condition, saying only that "in the opinion of the specialists, a full medical examination and subsequent treatment will require a certain amount of time."
The Regnum news agency reported from Tashkent, the Uzbek capital, that police and security forces have formed a cordon around the government hospital where Karimov was being treated, in an apparent indication of the unease caused by his hospitalization. The cordon, which was established late Saturday, has a radius of several kilometers (a mile or two), the report said.
