Exclusive - Uzbek president sidelines member of ruling triumvirate: sources

FILE PHOTO: Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev speaks with Russian President Vladimir Putin (not pictured) during a meeting in Moscow's Kremlin, Russia April 5, 2017. REUTERS/Pavel Golovkin/Pool

ALMATY (Reuters) - Shavkat Mirziyoyev, the new president of Uzbekistan, has moved to consolidate his power by sidelining a member of the triumvirate that has ruled the ex-Soviet state since last year, two sources familiar with the government told Reuters.

Uzbekistan, a major cotton exporter which sits on transit routes for natural gas shipped to China and Russia and has considerable hydrocarbon reserves of its own, has been in flux since Islam Karimov died last year after ruling for 27 years.