CSTO members may decide on Kyrgyz military base in August

12:0721/07/2009

ASTANA, July 21 (RIA Novosti) – Members of the Collective Security
Treaty Organization (CSTO) could agree on the opening of a military
base in Kyrgyzstan during an informal summit on August 1-2, a senior
Kyrgyz diplomat said on Tuesday.
The post-Soviet CSTO security bloc comprises Armenia, Belarus,
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.
"The Russian proposal [on the base] is being discussed, and is likely
to be considered at the
CSTO informal summit on August 1-2 at the Issyk-Kul resort in
Kyrgyzstan," Kyrgyz ambassador to Kazakhstan, Dzhanysh Rustembekov,
told a news conference in Astana.
A Russian government delegation reportedly visited Kyrgyzstan in early
July, holding closed meetings with the republic’s leadership. A source
in the Kyrgyz government said the expansion of Russia’s military
presence had been discussed, in particular, the opening of a military
base in the south of the country.
The diplomat said Kyrgyzstan had agreed in principle to the deployment
of a Russian-led CSTO military base "to strengthen southern
Kyrgyzstan."
"Why not agree [to the base deployment]? After all, Russia is our
strategic partner," he said.
Kyrgyzstan already hosts a Russian airbase in Kant and four other
Russian military facilities.
The airbase in Kant, some 20 kilometers (12 miles) outside the
capital, Bishkek, was opened in 2003.
Some 250 Russian officers and 150 enlisted personnel from Russia’s 5th
Air Army are deployed at the base, as well as Su-25 Frogfoot strike
aircraft and Mi-8 transport helicopters.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev approved on June 16 draft changes to
an agreement with Kyrgyzstan on the lease of the Kant base, which
would specify a 49-year lease with an automatic extension every 25
years.