BISHKEK. Nov 29 (Interfax-AVN) - Russian warplanes will arrive in Kyrgyzstan next week.
"SU-25 Frogfoot ground attack aircraft, SU-27 Flanker fighters and IL-76 Candid aircraft will arrive. They will be temporarily deployed at the military aerodrome in Kant near Bishkek, as instructed by the defense ministers of the Collective Security Treaty Organization. The fighters will constitute the core air component of the collective rapid deployment force in Central Asia," sources at the Kyrgyz Defense Ministry told Interfax on Friday.
The presidents of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan signed key documents of the organization in Chisinau on October 7.
According to the sources, the presidents will sign an agreement on the permanent stationing of Russian warplanes in Kant at their next meeting.
The Russian warplanes are expected to arrive in Kyrgyzstan on December 5. That same day, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov will visit the airdrome in Kant. He will leave for a working visit to Kyrgyzstan on December 4. At bilateral negotiations, Ivanov and his Kyrgyz counterpart Esen Topoyev are likely to discuss the terms of the planes' stationing, the number of pilots and technicians servicing the Russian aircraft.
The Kant airfield is located about 20km from Bishkek. In early 2002, it was planned for hosting planes of the anti- terrorist coalition that are currently based at the Manas airfield in Bishkek. However the U.S. party rejected the idea, because reconstruction and modernization of the airfield would require up to USD300m.