"The events that occurred five years ago when armed formations of international terrorists invaded our republic could have developed otherwise if this base had been around at that point," he said.
Scores of Kyrgyz soldiers were killed and hundreds were wounded in clashes with numerous bandit groups that invaded the country in 1999-2000.
"No enemy can ever frighten you if you feel your old fellow soldier by your side," Mr. Topoyev underscored, which, according to him, is exactly the case with the Russian airbase in Kant.
Deputy Russian Air Force Commander Anatoly Nogovitsyn and Russian and Kyrgyz diplomats attended the ceremony.
The Kant AFB has made great progress since the presidents of the two countries officially opened it a year ago. With the rebuilt runway, the base can receive any aircraft operational with the Russian Air Force. New navigation equipment has been installed, and several new combat aircraft have been transferred to the base.
The Russian AFB personnel is about 500 men operating several Sukhoi fighter jets, Ilyushin transport aircraft, Kyrgyzstan Albatros trainers-turned-fighters, and Mi-8 Hip helicopters. Almost all these vehicles took part in a major war game of the Collective Rapid Deployment Force of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (the organization includes Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan). The Rubezh ("Baseline") 2004 war game was held in August at Edelweiss high-altitude training field near the town of Balykchi, Kyrgyzstan, and in Kazakhstan.
