Moscow, May 26 (RIA Novosti) - A military base may appear in Kyrgyzstan's second largest city, Osh.
The country's Acting President Kurmanbek Bakiyev said in an interview with the Kommersant daily that such base could be established under the aegis of either the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), which includes Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, or the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), involving Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
Kyrgyz Ambassador to Moscow Alas Dzhumagulov said today that the issue can be routinely considered at the level of the Russian and Kyrgyz defense ministries. However, he stressed that he is unaware of any talks on setting up the military base in the south of Kyrgyzstan.
The Russian foreign ministry stated in its turn that it had no information about Kyrgyzstan's official request to enhance Russia's military presence in the south of Kyrgyzstan.
"This issue is not known to have been raised in the Russian ministry of defense either," official spokesman for the Russian foreign ministry Alexander Yakovenko told mass media, when asked about Russia's plans to enhance its military presence in the south of Kyrgyzstan.
"At the same time, we are preliminarily considering an opportunity to develop anti-terrorist cooperation," the spokesman underlined.
Governor of Kyrgyzstan's Osh region Anvar Artykov announced in mid-May Russia held talks with Bishkek on establishing a second military base in the south of Kyrgyzstan. The Russian military base would be useful for preventing terrorists threats in Central Asia, a vital problem after the events of May 14. On that day radical Islamists instigated a mutiny in the Fergana valley. The rebellion was suppressed in Andizhan, the population of 300,000, with 170 people, including 40 police officers, officially reported killed.
The acting Russian airbase in Kant (30 kilometers to the east of Bishkek) uses the infrastructure of a Soviet military aerodrome and flying school, handed over to Kyrgyzstan in 1992. In September 2003 Russia made an agreement with Kyrgyzstan on stationing an air unit in Kant within the framework of the CSTO Rapid Deployment Force. Currently, up to 500 Russian servicemen, several Russian helicopters and aircraft, including Su-27 fighters, Su-25 attack planes and Mi-8 helicopters, are located at the base.
The US have used the military base at the international airport of the Kyrgyz capital, Manas, as a foothold for the anti-terrorist operation in Afghanistan since 2001.
