BISHKEK, July 21. /TASS/. Kyrgyz Prime Minister Temir Sariyev signed on Tuesday a government decree, unilaterally terminating a 1993 assistance agreement with the US.

"After the resolution comes into effect, according to established procedure the Foreign Ministry of the republic must notify the government of the United States on denunciation of the agreement," government sources said about the agreement on Cooperation to Facilitate the Provision of Assistance.

The agreement signed in 1993 envisaged duty-free imports of goods designed for the implementation of different American programs. It also granted diplomatic immunity to the people engaged in these programs and fully exempted them from all taxes and other dues in Kyrgyzstan.

In earlier developments, the Kyrgyz government protested against the decision of the US Department of State to grant its 2014 Human Rights Defender ward to Kyrgyz political activist Azimzhon Askarov.

Askarov was given a life sentence for organizing and taking part in mass riots in southern Kyrgyzstan in June 2010.

A total of 442 people were killed and about 1,000 were wounded in several days of clashes. The Kyrgyz authorities qualified the move of American diplomats as ‘unfriendly’ and threatened to denounce the assistance agreement.