Kyrgyzstan allowed Russia to open a second military base on its territory on Saturday, expanding Moscow's military reach to balance against the U.S. presence in the Central Asian country.
The struggle for influence in the region intensified last month -- days after U.S. President Barack Obama completed his visit to Moscow -- as senior Russian officials traveled to Bishkek to press for the creation of a new Russian base.
The pressure from Moscow came after Kyrgyzstan allowed the United States to keep its air base at Manas, which is vital for supplying U.S. forces fighting in Afghanistan.
Kyrgyzstan had said in February that it was closing down the U.S. air base after receiving a promise of $2 billion in crisis aid from Russia earlier in the year. But Washington responded with a payment of $180 million to keep the base open.
On Saturday, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev laid out the framework for the new base's creation in an agreement that will be valid for 49 years with a possible 25-year extension.
The agreement, posted on the Kyrgyz president's Web site, said up to one battalion of Russian troops and a training center for Russian and Kyrgyz personnel will be housed at the base.
But Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who traveled to Bishkek with Medvedev, suggested that these parameters may change when a more detailed agreement is hammered out by November 1.
"The total numbers will be decided by military specialists based on what is needed to ensure security in the region," Lavrov said, Interfax reported.
He added that the two sides had agreed on "the expansion of the Russian military presence mainly in the southern regions of Kyrgyzstan."
Russia's existing base lies in the town of Kant in Kyrgyzstan's far north, near the border with Kazakhstan. The U.S. air base in Manas is also in the north of the country, near the capital, Bishkek.
Saturday's agreement comes three days after Medvedev endorsed Bakiyev's re-election last week in a poll that caused opposition protests and was condemned by Western observers as undemocratic.
KEY VICTORY
Getting Bishkek to reverse its February decision to close the Manas air base was a crucial victory for Washington, which is seeking to more than double its presence in Afghanistan by year's end to fight the Taliban insurgency.
Manas serves as a key refueling point for aircraft used in Afghanistan, and supply routes through Pakistan have proven less secure due to persistent militant attacks.
Moscow has denied being behind the initial decision to close Manas, though it has made no secret of seeking to check U.S. interests in the former Soviet Union, which it regards as its sphere of influence.
During Obama's first visit to Moscow as president last month, defense issues were at the top of the agenda, and a deal was reached to let U.S. troops and military hardware fly across Russia to Afghanistan.
Medvedev and Bakiyev signed the deal in the Kyrgyz resort of Cholpon Ata during an informal summit of the Russian-dominated Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), whose members also include Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Belarus and Armenia.
Lavrov said the new military training facility would be available to all members of the CSTO, which is also known by its Russian acronym as ODKB.
By: Brant
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