Reply #6: IS BISHKEK MOVING TOWARD RUSSIA AHEAD OF ELECTIONS? [View All]

[seemslikeadream]

Kyrgyz Foreign Minister Askar Aitmatov said yesterday that American AWACS reconnaissance planes will not be deployed at the Ganci air base outside the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek. Aitmatov made the statement after a trip to Moscow. Some observers say the Kyrgyz government’s decision was made to please Russia, with the aim of gaining the Kremlin’s support ahead of February 27 parliamentary elections and the presidential election in October.

Kyrgyz Foreign Minister Askar Aitmatov’s visit to Moscow resulted in two decisions.

The first -- announced on February 11 -- was to send more Russian military equipment and weaponry to the Russian Kant air base near the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek. The other decision was to deny the U.S. request to deploy the AWACS reconnaissance planes at the U.S. Ganci air base, which is also near Bishkek.

"It has been decided that the deployment of planes of this type (AWACS) would not quite fit the mandate of the Ganci air base, which is to provide support to the operation in Afghanistan," Aitmatov said yesterday. "We hope our Western partners and friends will accept Kyrgyzstan’s position with understanding."

Aitmatov said the second decision was a result of negotiations with the United States and consultations with the Collective Security Treaty Organization and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. Russia is a member of both organizations, and Aitmatov made the statement denying the request to base the AWACS in Kyrgyzstan two days after his Moscow trip.

The United States opened the Ganci air base -- which is at Bishkek’s Manas airport -- in late 2001 to conduct antiterrorism and humanitarian operations in Afghanistan. Russia’s Kant military base, about 20 kilometers east of Bishkek, was opened in October 2003.
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http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insight/articles/pp021505.shtml


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