Kyrgyz president has reportedly offered deployment of Russian troops in the Kyrgyz southern Batken region bordering Tajikistan instead of increasing the military contingent of the Russian air base in Kant.
According to Kyrgyz news agency 24.kg, Kyrgyz President Alamzbek Atambayev said that during talks with Russian president Vladimir Putin he had proposed to deploy Russian troops in the Kyrgyz southern Batken region instead of increasing the military contingent of the Russian air base in Kant.
“I had a conversation with Vladimir Vladimirovich [Putin] and I said that we agree that it is necessary to modernize the air base in Kant. But is the use of increasing its contingent? Against whom Bishkek should be protected?” Kyrgyz president was cited as saying by 24.kg.
“If to think about the future realistically, we see serious problems in Afghanistan, where Taliban has strengthened its position and ISIS is strengthening its position with all its might,” Atambayev said.
“I said that if you really want to think about common security, it would be better to build any preparatory grounds, especially as we deployed a military unit on the border with Tajikistan. Only in this case it will be a real assistance,” Atambayev was cited as saying by Kyrgyz news agency 24.kg.
He noted that the matter concerns the Kyrgyz southern Batken region bordering Tajikistan. “It would be a real assistance and we will support. Of course, we will assist Tajikistan and carry out joint exercises,” Kyrgyz president was quoted as saying by 24.kg.
However, there is no exact information, when the possible military base will open in the south and in what format it will operate – as the Russian or the CSTO military base, 24.kg said, noting that the issue of construction of the base depends on the Russian Federation.
Meanwhile, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan have been unable to agree on the location of the border they inherited when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. As the population in the dense Ferghana Valley grows, it has become increasingly difficult to demarcate the contested sections, where valuable agricultural land often lies. In 25 years of independence, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan succeeded in delimiting 519 km out of 978 km of their mutual border, while the remaining 459 km in densely populated lowlands are subject to mutual claims and include 58 separately contested sections.
Skirmishes have sparked between residents of Isfara and Batken districts along the Kyrgyzstan-Tajikistan border.
The area at the focus of those skirmishes lies on the jagged frontier where the east of Tajikistan’s Sughd province and Kyrgyzstan’s Batken province meet.
