MOSCOW. May 26 (Interfax-AVN) - Interim Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev has not ruled out the possibility that a military base could be deployed in southern Kyrgyzstan under the aegis of the Collective Security Treaty Organization or the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.
"As for an airbase in Osh (southern Kyrgyzstan's largest city - Interfax), it could be created within the framework of the Collective Security Treaty Organization or the Shanghai Cooperation Organization if necessary," Bakiyev said in an interview with Interfax.
He also said that the new Kyrgyz authorities would carry out previously accepted obligations related to the Russian airbase in Kant. "The airbase in Kant will stay for as long as necessary in accordance with our previous obligations," Bakiyev said.
Bakiyev noted that the U.S. airbase at the Manas airport will also "carry out its functions in accordance with earlier agreements between the Kyrgyz and U.S. sides."
Earlier, Kyrgyz media reported that Russia plans to deploy a military base in Osh. The Ekho Osha newspaper, referring to head of the Russian president's department on interregional and cultural relations with foreign countries Modest Kolerov, said that "a Russian military base with up to 2,000 servicemen will be deployed in Osh."
However, Bakiyev's press service denied the information at first, saying that the question had not been discussed.