Russia, Kyrgyzstan sign military memorandum

CHOLPON-ATA, August 1 (RIA Novosti) – Russian President Dmitry
Medvedev and his Kyrgyz counterpart Kurmanbek Bakiyev signed on
Saturday a memorandum on Russian military presence in Kyrgyzstan.
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.
In line with the memorandum, the republic will also host an additional
Russian military contingent the size of up to a battalion and a
training center for both countries’ servicemen.
The memorandum noted "the expediency of working out and signing by
November 1, 2009 of a Russian-Kyrgyz agreement on the status and terms
of stay of a united Russian military base on the territory of the
Kyrgyz republic."
The agreement will be valid for 49 years and could be automatically
extended for 25-year periods.
Medvedev arrived in Kyrgyzstan on Friday for an informal regional
security treaty organization summit. The Collective Security Treaty
Organization (CSTO) summit takes place August 1-2 at Kyrgyzstan’s
Issyk-Kul resort.
The post-Soviet CSTO security bloc comprises Armenia, Belarus,
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. Belarus is
expected to join a CSTO agreement (signed on June 14) on the creation
of a joint rapid reaction force.
Russia earlier offered to deploy a battalion-sized unit as part of the
CSTO rapid reaction force in Kyrgyzstan’s southern Batken region.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told journalists on Saturday
that the training center, to be hosted by Kyrgyzstan, will be open for
all CSTO members.