MOSCOW. Aug 23 (nterfax-AVN) - Russia will deliver helicopters, armored military hardware, ammunition and other samples of military equipment to Kyrgyzstan as part of contracts to be signed within the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a military-diplomatic source in Moscow told Interfax-AVN on Friday.
"These issues have been discussed. The topic of military-technological assistance for Kyrgyzstan within the CSTO will be addressed during the organization's informal summit in Yerevan," the source said.
During the violent ethnic clashes in southern Kyrgyzstan in June, the Kyrgyz interim government asked CSTO member states to send military-technological aid to Bishkek, he said.
"Bishkek requested armored military hardware, helicopters, special-purpose equipment and uniforms," he said.
"Negotiations are currently in progress on the delivery of BTR-80 armored personnel carriers, [Mil] Mi-17 helicopters and special-purpose equipment currently owned by the Russian Interior Ministry," the source said.
The volume of these deliveries has not yet been determined, but they will unlikely be large, given Kyrgyzstan's limited resources, the source said.
"Kyrgyzstan will have to pay for the weapons, although the prices will be as low as possible, as it usually happens in relations between CSTO member states. As for humanitarian aid, it will be provided free of charge," he said.
At the start of July, CSTO Secretary General Nikolai Bordyuzha told journalists that CSTO member states were formulating mechanisms of assistance for Kyrgyzstan.
"It will be special-purpose and operative hardware, some kinds of weapons, means used to disperse the crowd, transport and helicopters, Bordyuzha said.
The CSTO includes Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.