MOSCOW. July 24 (Interfax-AVN) - Russia will open its air base at Kyrgyzstan's Kant airport in October, Collective Security Council Secretary General Nikolai Bordyuzha told journalists in Moscow.
"I hope that all matters will be agreed upon in the near future. If the current schedule is preserved, the base will start functioning this fall," Bordyuzha said.
He noted that Russia and Kyrgyzstan are negotiating the technical details of their agreement on the base's deployment. "Kyrgyzstan would like to use the airfield for additional purposes. These options are now being discussed," he said.
Nearly all aspects of the airfield's use by the Russian Air Force have been agreed upon, Bordyuzha noted. "Issues pertaining to the housing sector are the only thing left," he said.
"Americans invest a lot of money in accommodation of their base in Manas, but we do not have so much money," the secretary general stressed.
According to Bordyuzha, the command of the U.S. base in Manas and the Russian base in Kant have started discussing interaction in joint use of the Kyrgyz airspace. "There are problems related to joint use of the airspace, because the bases are located just several dozen kilometers away from each other. This is just seconds for warplanes, and we have to discuss security," he said.