Kyrgyzstan is on the brink of civil war, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev warned Tuesday, calling for officials in the central Asian country to avoid further bloodshed.

"I believe Kyrgyzstan is on the brink of civil war," Medvedev said during a speech at the U.S. think tank, the Brookings Institution.

"The risk of Kyrgyzstan breaking apart -- into the south and the north -- really exists," Medvedev said after Kyrgyzstan's ousted President Kurmanbek Bakiyev said he would resign if the interim government guarantees his security, the RIA Novosti news agency reported.

Bakiyev fled the capital last week during the unrest that killed at least 83 people in the strategically important former Soviet central Asian nation.