BISHKEK. Jan 15 (Interfax) - Russia has supplied 125 pieces of military hardware to Kyrgyzstan as part of technical assistance within the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU).
"Following Kyrgyzstan's accession to the EAEU, Russian launched a program of financial-and-technical assistance to the republic in order to strengthen the external border of the Union: Kyrgyzstan entered into the EAEU, which made its borders with China, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan the external border of the Union," Russian Ambassador to Kyrgyzstan Andrei Krutko told the press on Tuesday at a ceremony where the military hardware was handed over.
"Today we are completing the transfer of the hardware to the Kyrgyz State Border Service; it will be used to equip a technical site," he said.
Advisor to the Russian Transport Minister Mikhail Semyonov said that the Transport Ministry was providing the equipment under an agreement with the Kyrgyz government.
"Eleven border posts were equipped in 2018. A total of 125 vehicles and pieces of engineering hardware have been supplied for exclusive use by border posts," Semyonov said.
The Russian embassy in Bishkek told Interfax earlier that the first delivery would contribute to the provisioning of the Kyrgyz sector of the EAEU customs border with technical and engineering equipment, including outside checkpoints. The delivery included 123 motor and engineering vehicles, among them 108 cross-country vehicles for transportation of passengers and cargo, two tow trucks, two excavators and loaders, two cranes, four sanitary vehicles, five special vehicles, and two drilling units.
The second shipment is due to reach Kyrgyzstan in the first quarter of this year.