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Russia has no desire to see US forces in Central Asia — Lavrov

The Russian Foreign Minister explained that the main reason for the lack of desire to see US forces in this region was their aspiration to deploy a portion of its own infrastructure, weapons and servicemen in order to carry out strikes at Afghanistan when necessary

BUDAPEST, August 24. /TASS/. Russia does not want to see US servicemen in Central Asian states, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Tuesday.

"No, I will be honest with you. First, we have a common security space. And there are certain obligations within this space. I am talking about the Collective Security Treaty Organization, which implies a consensus of all allies on the matters of deployment of foreign forces on its territory," he said, answering a question whether Russia would like to see US soldiers in Central Asia.

He explained that the main reason for the lack of desire to see US forces in this region was their aspiration to deploy a portion of its own infrastructure, weapons and servicemen in order to carry out strikes at Afghanistan when necessary.

"If you believe that any country, be it Central Asia or somewhere else, is interested in becoming a target so that the Americans could satisfy some initiatives of theirs, I highly doubt that anyone needs that," the Minister added.

Earlier, The Wall Street Journal reported citing high-ranking officials of the two countries that US President Joe Biden addressed his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin during the Geneva summit with a request to deploy US forces in Central Asia after their withdrawal from Afghanistan. According to the report, US authorities wanted to deploy bases with drones and counter-terrorism units, but Russia rejected the request.