Posted on 02/03/2009 9:07:59 PM PST by pobeda1945
MOSCOW, February 3 (RIA Novosti) - Kyrgyzstan will demand the closure of a U.S. military base on its territory, used to support antiterrorism operations in neighboring Afghanistan, the Central Asian state's president said on Tuesday.
Kurmanbek Bakiyev is on a two-day visit in Moscow, where he also secured deals to write off Kyrgyzstan's $180 million debt and to receive a $2 billion discounted loan and $150 million in financial aid from Russia.
"The Kyrgyz government has taken a decision to terminate the rent of the base," Bakiyev told a news conference after talks with Russia's Dmitry Medvedev, citing Washington's refusal to discuss a higher rent and reluctance to address the 2006 killing by a U.S. officer of a Kyrgyz man in an incident at the base.
"If we fail to ensure our citizens' security, unresolved problems will cause legitimate public discontent," Bakiyev said.
New U.S. President Barack Obama has announced plans to considerably increase troops in Afghanistan. The U.S. airbase was set up in 2001 as a transit point for NATO supplies to the international coalition in Afghanistan and now houses more than 1,000 military personnel.
Russia backed the U.S.-led campaign in Afghanistan, but its relations with NATO have deteriorated since over the bloc's ongoing eastward expansion and most recently an armed conflict with Georgia. Russia also has a base in Kyrgyzstan under a post-Soviet security pact.
The deal to write off part of the Central Asian state's debt and settle the other part by selling some real estate and enterprises to Russia was signed in the presidents' presence.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin said in Bishkek last week that the Russian government was entitled to a former defense sector plant in Kyrgyzstan and a building in the capital to accommodate a Russian cultural center.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, President Medvedev said: "Russia will give Kyrgyzstan a $2 billion loan and non-refundable $150-million grant ... to stabilize the budget and finance key infrastructure projects, including the construction of a hydroelectric power plant."
Medvedev said a separate agreement had been signed to build the 1,900 MW Kambaratinsk hydro power plant. Earlier reports said $1.7 billion would be invested in the project.
The money is vital for the impoverished state, which is plagued by instability. This year, Kyrgyzstan will have to pay $240 per 1,000 cu m for Uzbek natural gas, up from last year's $145.
Obama is on a roll.
So Pakistan and Russia now have the US in an untenable position in that they can cut off our supply routes to Afghanistan...
He "escaped" (his word) the White House today in order to read to adoring school children in a charter school. That "big people" stuff like Russia trying to muscle us out of another country is too mean and scarey for him.
Watch us get pushed out of Afghanistan sooner rather than later
Watch the terrorists thrive over the next 4 years!
Last planes over the base should be a B-52 ArcLight group.
It should be a cratered mess when we’re done with it.
Emotion aside, we see Russia’s influence in the region is ALWAYS counter to us.
We never learn—Russia is not our friend, has never been our friend, and will never be our friend.
They are our enemy still.
Our so-called “friends” are slowly choking off our supply lines to Afghanistan. On purpose.
Good grief. This was a simple and easy shake down from the Kyrgyz government for more money and Obama's team (including SOS Clinton) blew it big time.
In that culture, asking for more money is expected and acceptable. What isn't acceptable is refusing to even talk about it.
Kyrgyzstan would have loved playing both sides for another decade or so, but because of the ham-fisted nature of the current administration, we lose a foothold in a former Soviet republic.
Disastrous diplomacy.
The Russians are looking for more mouths to feed.
Foreign aid to Haiti in 2006? $163 million.
Amount of "foreign aid" that we would have needed to keep a base in Kyrgyzstan? $330 million.
Losing another base in a strategic part of the world? Priceless.
Somebody in the new administration better put on some big boy pants. We lose this base, India is taking helicopter deliveries from Russia, Quadafi has renewed stature in Africa....if they can’t handle it, they need to get out of the way! In 15 days, he has managed to undo 28 years worth of un-Cartering.
U.S. to respond to Kyrgyz base closure report - embassy
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2177968/posts
yep
there goes “Barry’s War”
gee, 15 days in office- that didn’t take long, did it
(so much for getting the Russians to love him by offering to get rid of 80% of America’s nukes)
Re “Obama is on a roll”, or in the converse, “Obama is getting rolled over, again.”
We are screwed despite $300 million in condoms.
Price looked cheap.
Al-Qaeda and Russians celebrate.
Russia to discuss with U.S. non-military transit to Afghanistan
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2178708/posts
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