Kyrgyzstan may close U.S. base unless higher rent is paid
19/04/2006 13:31
BISHKEK, April 19 (RIA Novosti) - Kyrgyzstan's president threatened Wednesday to terminate an air base agreement with the United States unless it accepts new financial terms for deploying its troops in the ex-Soviet republic.
Kurmanbek Bakiyev, speaking in a televised interview, said little progress had been made toward a new deal since he suggested raising the rent nine months ago, and that the amount currently paid by the U.S. was "purely symbolic."
"Kyrgyzstan reserves the right to consider terminating the bilateral agreement of December 4, 2001, should any circumstances prevent completion of the negotiating process by June 1, 2006," he said.
About 1,000 U.S. servicemen are stationed at the Manas base, set up in December 2001 at Kyrgyzstan's main civilian airport near the capital Bishkek for U.S.-led operations in neighboring Afghanistan.
The president said Kyrgyzstan had agreed to host the base "despite the fact that our partners in regional and other organizations expressed their concern over the presence of a U.S. airbase on Kyrgyz soil."
Bakiyev's statement came ahead of his April 24-25 talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.
On Tuesday, the Kyrgyz Foreign Ministry rebuked the U.S ambassador for suggesting the country should sign up for an international debt relief program, saying this amounted to interference in domestic affairs.
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