Uzbekistan's President Islam Karimov attends a joint news conference with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, August 29, 2006.REUTERS/Shamil Zhumatov/File Picture

VLADIVOSTOK, Russia (Reuters) - Russia expects the political situation in Uzbekistan to remain stable after the death of President Islam Karimov, the Kremlin’s top political adviser, Yuri Ushakov, said on Saturday.

“We hope (the situation) will be stable,” Ushakov told reporters on the sidelines of a business forum in the east Russian city of Vladivostok.

Karimov, authoritarian president of ex-Soviet Uzbekistan for more than 25 years, died on Friday.