Russia plans second military base in Kyrgyzstan

[Pastor Dale Morgan]

Perilous Times

Russia plans second military base in Kyrgyzstan

Russia plans to build a second military base in Kyrgyzstan in a bold gambit likely to alarm Washington and other countries in the region.
 

Andrew Osborn in Moscow and Richard Orange in Almaty
Published: 7:00AM BST 25 Jun 2010

Local resident herds his sheep in front of Manas Air Base

The United States already have a military installation at Manas International Airport, near Bishkek

The Kremlin tried and failed to win approval for the base in the south of the country last year but saw its chances evaporate when the man it was close to making a deal with, President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, was deposed in a coup earlier this year.

However, as the interim government that succeeded him struggles to maintain order after an outbreak of ethnic violence in the south of the country that left more than 200 people dead, the Kremlin has quietly revived the controversial plan.
 
The base, to be located in either Osh or Jalalabad, would extend Russia's geopolitical influence deep into Central Asia and bolster its position with both China and the United States.

Coming less than a week after Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said he thought a US airbase in Kyrgyzstan that supplies fuel and troops for the war effort in Afghanistan should not become a permanent fixture, the move is likely to be seen as an aggressive counter thrust.

"This is all about restoring the influence that Russia lost when the Soviet Union collapsed," said one Russian analyst. Kyrgyzstan already has a Russian airbase and is the only country in the world to host both a Russian and an American base.

Russia appears to be growing weary of sharing Kyrgyzstan's geopolitical and strategic space with the United States and analysts say it is keen to use the recent violence as a pretext to expand its own footprint in the region.

According to military sources quoted in authoritative Russian daily newspaper Nezavisimaya Gazeta, President Medvedev has already ordered Anatoly Serdyukov, the Russian defence minister, to ensure that the new base, which it is estimated will cost Russia at least $250 million (£167 million) and house a minimum of one thousand troops, becomes a reality.

Analysts say the recent ethnic bloodletting has convinced Russian military intelligence that Russian influence is under threat from an unnamed "third force." It apparently fears that continuing instability could result in Kyrgyzstan splitting in two along north-south lines and that Russia would be the loser.

The Kremlin is hoping it can resurrect talks on the new base as early as next week once a referendum meant to lend legitimacy to the new interim government is out of the way.

Edil Baisilov, former chief of staff for the interim government and the current leader of the Aikol El Party, said that the Kyrgyz government would probably support the Russian plans. "Kyrgyzstan would welcome a large Russian presence, especially now, after the bloody conflict," he said.

Neighbouring Uzbekistan is likely to strongly oppose the move though. It said last year "there was no need" for such a base and fretted that it would stoke "all kinds of nationalistic confrontations." Though engaged in a noisy push to improve its relations with Moscow, Washington would also be uneasy. It spoke of building its own anti-terror centre in southern Kyrgyzstan to deal with growing Islamic radicalism in the region as recently as March.