RUSSIA BEEFS UP MILITARY PRESENCE IN KYRGYZSTAN

RIA Novosti
15:37 | 11/ 06/ 2008

MOSCOW, June 11 (RIA Novosti) – Russia will deploy more personnel and
equipment at its air base in Kyrgyzstan, the Air Force commander told
a Russian daily on Wednesday.

In an interview with the Nezavisimaya Gazeta newspaper,
Col. Gen. Alexander Zelin also said that flight training programs
would be intensified to prepare more pilots.

He earlier said the base was set to receive four combat trainers from
the Krasnodar military pilot school, plus an An-26 transport plane
and several new Su-27 aircraft.

The Russian base in Kant, about 20 miles west of the Kyrgyz capital,
Bishkek, was established in October 2003, and currently deploys about
400 troops, including 250 officers and NCOs and 150 conscripts, as well
as several Su-25 Frogfoot attack aircraft and Su-27 Flanker fighters,
two Mi-8

The 2003 bilateral agreement between Russia and Kyrgyzstan stipulates
the presence of the Kant air base in the Central Asian republic
for 15 years with an automatic extension every five years after the
expiration of the original term.

The agreement is in the framework of the Collective Security Treaty
Organization – a regional security bloc in Central Asia, which also
includes Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

Kyrgyz Defense Minister Ismail Isakov said in March that Russia
annually pays some $4.5 million to Kyrgyzstan for military bases and
also provides Bishkek with military and technical equipment as part
of the lease agreements.