MOSCOW. Oct 8 (Interfax-AVN) - The Russian side does not mind U.S. military presence in Central Asia as long as it does not go beyond the proclaimed anti-terrorist goals and is not used to push extra-regional interests, Russian First Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Denisov said.
"Our attitude to U.S. bases was defined given the absolute global importance of forming a broad collective front to combat international terrorism and in particular the terrorist threat posed by Afghanistan," Denisov told Interfax in an interview.
"These are the goals in the context of deploying military bases that Washington formulated at the initial stage. There is no reason to reproach the U.S. side of violating the undertaken obligations," the diplomat said.
"The bases have played and continue playing an important role in the infrastructural provision of international forces' actions on the Afghan territory," he said.
"This position again proves the principled rather than timeserving approach of Russia. We are going to be guided by this provided that the nature and parameters of the U.S. military presence in Central Asia do not go beyond the proclaimed antiterrorist goals and will not become a factor of pushing one's extra-regional interests in the region to the detriment of the interests of Central Asian states, their neighbors and traditional partners," Denisov said.
Russia "does not initiate a new confrontation with the U.S." on post-Soviet territories, the diplomat said.
"Confrontation is not our choice. We are ready to continue the dialog but on the principles of openness, mutual respect, equality and with regard to each other's interests," Denisov said.