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Russia drops an anchor in Central
Asia
By Sergei Blagov
MOSCOW
- Russia has launched an air base at a military airfield
in Kant, about 20 kilometers east of the Kyrgyz capital
Bishkek, in a move that arguably brings the mountainous
Central Asian state closer to Moscow's sphere of
influence.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and
Kyrgyz President Askar Akayev jointly inaugurated the
base this week and hailed the development. Putin stated
in Bishkek that Russian air force deployment was very
important to security arrangements in the region. In
response, Akayev said that Kyrgyzstan views itself as
Russia's political base in the region. "Without an
alliance with Russia, we would have been unable to
survive in difficult periods of history. Russia was
given to us by God and history," Akayev was quoted by
the Russian Information Agency (RIA) as saying.
At the moment, the Russian force at Kant
includes more than 20 Russian aircraft and more than 150
troops. In all, Russia deploys five Su-25 attack jets,
five Su-27 fighters, one An-26 transport, six Il-76
transports, four L-39 training jets and two Mi-8
helicopters at Kant. The base commander is
Lieutenant-Colonel Andrei Samotsvet.
Meanwhile,
Russia has spent more than 79 million rubles (US$2.6
million) to upgrade the Kant base, while the total
upgrade bill is expected to reach 219 million rubles.
Russia plans to spend 130 million rubles to maintain the
base.
However, Kyrgyz officials were keen to
emphasize that the Kant base will not be purely Russian.
"Today we have launched the CSTO's rapid-reaction-force
base," Akayev said, referring to an alliance of former
Soviet republics known as the Collective Security Treaty
Organization.
A Russian task force is to provide
the air power for a contingent of ground forces known as
a rapid-reaction force. This group could total more than
5,000 troops from Russia, as well as from Kyrgyzstan,
Kazakhstan and Tajikistan, the members of CSTO. The base
operates under Russian jurisdiction, yet it is under
tactical control of the CSTO rapid-reaction force's
commander.
The Kant base would be a deterrent
for all sorts of terrorists and extremists, Putin said.
"I have no doubt at all" that a Russian military base in
Kyrgyzstan would not have allowed the events of
1999-2000, he reportedly added, referring to the
so-called "Batken wars".
In August 1999, dozens
of gunmen crossed into Kyrgyzstan from neighboring
Tajikistan, seized a village and took at least six
hostages, including four Japanese geologists and a
Kyrgyz major-general, Anarbek Shamkeyev, commander of
Interior Ministry troops. In August 2000, Muslim rebels
again crossed into Kyrgyzstan and engaged government
troops in the Batken district of Kyrgyzstan, near the
Tajik-Kyrgyz border.
Kyrgyzstan has sought
outside aid to strengthen its army, which now includes
little more than 10,000 personnel. The Kyrgyz national
army has been severely underfunded as the government has
allocated less than $20 million a year as the country's
military budget. Akayev has long urged Moscow to
strengthen the country's military, notably the air
force, which has just one Mi-8 helicopter, obviously not
enough to fight rebels in mountainous terrain.
Russia and Kyrgyzstan have maintained close
political and military ties, and Akayev has tended to
support the Kremlin's policies in the region. In
response, Moscow has backed Akayev's regime. Hence,
Putin's pledge to deter "all sorts of terrorists and
extremists" may also be interpreted as a warning to
Kyrgyz domestic opposition.
In the past year,
the Akayev administration has faced criticism over a
border deal under which Kyrgyzstan transfers some 95,000
hectares of its territory to China. In March 2002, 5,000
people gathered in the Jalal-Abad province of
impoverished southern Kyrgyzstan, and in the ensuing
rioting, five protesters were killed and dozens of
civilians and police injured.
The Russian
deployment now means that Kyrgyzstan is host to two
foreign air bases, the other being the US facility at
Manas, a Bishkek suburb. The US base, which was
established in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of
September 11, 2001, is designed to provide air support
for regional operations by the anti-terrorism coalition
in Afghanistan. Some 2,000 US personnel are now based at
Manas.
However, Russian and Kyrgyz leaders both
emphasized that Kant and Manas were to pursue completely
different goals. Akayev reportedly stated that the Manas
base was a temporary facility to support international
peacekeepers in Afghanistan with a United Nations
mandate, while the Kant base was created permanently.
"We have no problems with Manas, the two bases
would be mutually supplementing," Putin was quoted by
RIA as saying. The Manas base is a temporary base to
support anti-terrorist operations in Afghanistan, while
Kant is to safeguard the security of Kyrgyzstan and the
whole region, Putin reportedly added.
Putin's
trip to Kyrgyzstan, the second in less than a year, had
an economic dimension as well. Russia backs its allies
and friends, Akayev stated after the economic talks.
Contracts totaling some $14 million were signed at a
bilateral economic forum, thus raising annual trade
turnover between Russia and Kyrgyzstan by 10 percent,
Akayev said, according to RIA.
However, Putin
reportedly conceded that actual volumes of bilateral
trade were close to negligible. Nonetheless, Moscow has
offered some economic carrots to Kyrgyzstan. For
instance, last December, Russian and Kyrgyz officials
signed a deal to write off some $40 million of Kyrgyz
debt to Moscow.
Russian officials indicate that
the Kant base is to protect Russian economic interests
in the region as well. The Kant base will become an
important element of regional security, hence creating
favorable conditions for Russian businesses in
Kyrgyzstan, Putin said.
There are sensitive
facilities in the region indeed. Notably, Russia and
Kyrgyzstan have formed a $10 million uranium joint
venture. The venture's Kara-Baltinsk plant in Kyrgyzstan
processes raw uranium from the Zarechnoye field in
southern Kazakhstan, where reserves are estimated at
19,000 tons. Given the region's volatility, such a joint
venture surely needs top protection.
(Copyright
2003 Asia Times Online Co, Ltd. All rights reserved.
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