Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov says Bishkek has not asked Moscow to open a second military base in Kyrgyzstan, but suggested that Moscow is open to discussing the idea, according to AKIpess.
Speaking to students at the Kyrgyz-Russian Slavic University in Bishkek on February 4, Lavrov was asked whether Russia was prepared to open a second base in Kyrgyzstan.
"This is not our initiative. We are ready to discuss with our Kyrgyz friends their ideas regarding security," Russian foreign minister noted.
Kyrgyzstan was the first leg of Lavrov’s trip to three Central Asian countries.
Meanwhile, Kyrgyzstan’s Ambassador to Russia Alikbek Jekshenkulov said in an interview with Russian state news agency TASS in Moscow on February 1 that Kyrgyzstan may agree to host a second Russian military base in the country to help combat the threat of infiltration by militants from Islamic State (IS) terror group.
IS militants are relocating from Syria and Iraq to Afghanistan and there is an “increasing” risk that they will later enter Tajikistan and then Kyrgyzstan, Kyrgyz diplomat noted.
Russia restored its Soviet-era airbase at Kant near Bishkek in 2003. The base is leased to Russia at least till 2058. The air base was opened under the auspices of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), which includes Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Tajikistan.
