POST-SOVIET SECURITY BLOC UNAWARE OF U.S. PLANS FOR C.ASIA BASES
RIA Novosti
15:03 | 18/ 12/ 2008
MOSCOW, December 18 (RIA Novosti) – The head of a post-Soviet security
bloc said on Thursday he had no information about the possible
deployment of new U.S. military bases in Kazakhstan or Uzbekistan.
A senior Russian military official expressed concern on Tuesday about
what he said were U.S. plans to set up military bases in the former
Soviet republics.
"This is the first time I have heard about the deployment of such
bases, and I cannot confirm this information," said Nikolai Bordyuzha,
general secretary of the Collective Security Treaty Organization
(CSTO).
He added that "any such decision" would have to be agreed on with
the CSTO.
"The Secretariat has received no such notification," he said.
The CSTO is a security grouping comprising the former Soviet republics
of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Uzbekistan,
and Tajikistan.
The press secretary of the U.S. embassy in Uzbekistan said earlier
on Thursday that the U.S. administration had no plans to deploy any
military bases in Uzbekistan.
The Kazakh Defense Ministry also denied any knowledge of U.S. plans
to deploy military bases in the country.
"We know nothing about such plans, and we cannot confirm this
information," a ministry source said.
Gen. Nikolai Makarov, chief of the General Staff of Russia’s Armed
Forces said on Tuesday that, "The U.S. has opened bases in Romania
and Bulgaria, and according to our information plans to establish
them in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan."
Former Soviet republics in Central Asia have been the focus of
increased rivalry between Moscow and Washington of late.
The United States has recently stepped up ties with oil-rich
Kazakhstan, which allowed U.S. planes to fly over its territory during
the 2001 U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan and also contributed troops
to Iraq.
Observers in Russia say that Washington will need more bases in
countries neighboring Afghanistan due to president-elect Barack
Obama’s plans to increase the U.S. military presence in the war-ravaged
country by 20,000 troops.
The U.S. has run an airbase in Kyrgyzstan since the war in Afghanistan.
Uzbekistan expelled U.S. troops from its airbase in 2005, but has
recently sought closer ties with the U.S. and other Western powers.
Gen. Makarov also blamed Washington for pushing Georgia and Ukraine
toward NATO membership. He said Russia had been surrounded by the
military alliance’s forces.
The statement came amid an ongoing dispute over Washington’s
plans to place a missile base in Poland and a radar in the Czech
Republic. Moscow opposes the plans as a threat to its national
security. The U.S. says the missile defenses are needed to counter
possible strikes from "rogue" states.