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Russia respects Kyrgystan's decision not to prolong Manas transit center agreement with USA

The transit center accommodates some 1,300 U.S. servicemen

BISHKEK, April 5 (Itar-Tass) — Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow respects Kyrgyzstan's decision not to prolong the agreement with the USA on the transit center at Manas. Lavrov said so after a meeting whish his Kyrgyz counterpart Ruslan Kazakbayev on Thursday.

"We respected the decision voiced by the Kyrgyz president not to prolong the agreement on the Manas transit center after 2014," the minister underlined.

The transit center accommodates some 1,300 U.S. servicemen. The Russian Foreign Ministry believes the parameters and term of operation of this center should be conditioned by the objectives of the stabilization efforts by the international security assistance force in Afghanistan.

Moscow assumes that the transit center will not be needed after the withdrawal of the U.S. contingent, so it has a positive attitude to the Kyrgyz leadership’s plans to convert the facility into an international civil transport hub without any military element.