BISHKEK. July 9 (Interfax-AVN) - The Kyrgyz Defense Ministry has wrapped up preparations for the deployment of the Russian military airbase at Kant.
"The issue was coordinated not only on the level of Kyrgyz ministries and agencies, but also at the level of pertinent parliamentary committees," Kyrgyz Defense Minister Esen Topoyev told Interfax on Wednesday.
"We are expecting the government's authorization for the Defense Ministry to sign an agreement with Russia on the airbase's deployment and the legal status of the Russian troops," Topoyev noted. The Russian Defense Ministry is taking similar steps, he said.
"Joint working groups of the defense ministries have coordinated the Russian side's use of the facilities at the airfield. They will be used jointly and then left in Kyrgyzstan," he said.
The agreement will be signed at the level of Russian and Kyrgyz defense ministers in late July or early August, Topoyev stressed.
According to him, planned work on the infrastructure creation and restoration at the Kant airfield has already been launched by the parties. "Kant's military airfield is capable of accomplishing all planned missions in the framework of the CIS Collective Security Treaty Organization. Work has been done to expand the plane parking area to house the necessary types of warplanes. Russia has already accomplished the missions related to introducing radio communication in the airfield's infrastructure, in particular, to long- and short-range control of radio beacons, night take-off, and equipping of the command and control post," the minister said.
Topoyev noted that 70 percent of infrastructure of the compound where about 500 Russian servicemen will leave has been restored. Two dormitories have been commissioned, and panel modules for barracks and airfield control bodies erected.
"We are hoping for the completion of the major share of the work by the time the agreement is signed. The Kant airbase is to be fully ready for the accomplishment of assigned missions in autumn this year," Topoyev concluded.