BISHKEK, October 12. /TASS/. Russia’s Kant air base in Kyrgyzstan makes a substantial contribution to security provision in the entire Central Asian region, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday.
"This military outpost makes a substantial contribution to bolstering the republic’s defense capability, providing security and stability in the entire Central Asian region and fighting such acute challenges and threats as terrorism, extremism, drug trafficking and organized crime," the Russian leader told reporters after the Russia-Kyrgyzstan talks in the Kyrgyz capital.
The Russian leader who attended the ceremony of opening the Kant air base in October 2003 called the military facility’s 20th anniversary "a major jubilee date." He further said that "the Kant personnel are currently participating in the Indestructible Brotherhood 2023 drills of peacekeeping forces that the Collective Security Treaty Organization is holding on Kyrgyz soil."
"I remember very well how the Kant base was established and at that time the republic’s leadership turned directly to the Russian Federation with a request to deploy our air wing here immediately and as soon as possible because Kyrgyzstan had been attacked by armed gangs and a lot of people suffered and this required a quick and joint reaction," the Russian leader pointed out.
In Putin’s estimate, "today this air base has acquired considerable, serious and regional significance."
As the Russian leader pointed out, the current talks "focused on the issues of expanding bilateral cooperation in the military and military-technical spheres."
Russia’s Kant air base opened in 2003 is part of Russia’s integrated military base in Kyrgyzstan. It also comprises a naval anti-submarine armament testing station on Lake Issyk-Kul, a naval signal center in the Chuy Region and a radio seismic laboratory of the Russian Defense Ministry’s seismic service in the Jalal-Abad Region.