Kyrgyzstan agreed U.S. base deal with Russia-source

By Oleg Shchedrov
CAIRO (Reuters) - A Kyrgyzstan deal with the United States to keep open a U.S. air base in Central Asia was agreed with Russia, a Kremlin source said on Thursday, but a newspaper report said Moscow had been thrown off balance by the move.
The United States has agreed to pay $180 million to Kyrgyzstan to keep open the last remaining U.S. air base in Central Asia, a key refueling point for U.S. aircraft in NATO operations against Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan.
Washington had been haggling to keep the base open since February, when the former Soviet republic announced its closure after securing pledges of $2 billion in aid and credit from Russia.
When asked about the deal, a Kremlin official accompanying Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in Egypt told Reuters that Kyrgyzstan had agreed its decision with Moscow.
"Kyrgyzstan agreed its decision (on the base) with Russia," the source said. "We support all steps aimed at stabilizing the situation in Afghanistan."
But Russia's Kommersant newspaper quoted an unidentified Russian diplomat as saying that Moscow felt it had been tricked by Kyrgyzstan over the base and that Russia would make an "adequate response" to the deal.
"The news about keeping the base was a very unpleasant surprise for us -- we did not expect such a trick," the diplomat was quoted as saying by Kommersant.
"The real character of the U.S. military presence in Central Asia has not changed, which goes against Russian interests and our agreement with the Kyrgyz leadership," the Russian diplomat was quoted as saying.
Kyrgyzstan's ruling party said on Wednesday it had approved the agreement with the United States to keep the Manas air base open.
"Kyrgyzstan can not step aside from fighting terrorism," said Kabai Karabekov, a member of Ak Zhol party led by President Kurmanbek Bakiyev. Karabekov said the deal would probably be approved by parliament on Thursday.
The surprise decision to close the base -- announced by Bakiyev in Moscow alongside Kremlin chief Medvedev -- provoked speculation that Russia was trying to use the issue as a bargaining chip in U.S. relations.
The Kremlin says it is ready for cooperation with Washington on fighting the Taliban and Afghanistan is likely to be on the agenda when U.S. President Barack Obama visits Moscow in July.
(Additional Reporting by Olga Dzyubenko in Bishkek and Olzhas Auyezov in Almaty; Editing by Richard Balmforth)
(Writing by Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Charles Dick)

Source: Reuters