BISHKEK, October 12. /TASS/. Russia’s Kant air base in Kyrgyzstan remains a reliable guarantor of security and stability in Central Asia, Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov said on Thursday.

"Today we can say with full confidence that the Russian air base in Kant is a reliable guarantor of security and stability in the Central Asian region," the Kyrgyz leader said at the ceremony of celebrating the air base’s 20th anniversary.

As the Kyrgyz leader pointed out, "the Russian air base successfully copes with its tasks and is a restraining factor for the terrorist and extremist threat."

The opening of the Kant air base was a necessary and timely measure, Japarov stressed.

"Considerable joint work has been carried out over the 20-year period to develop infrastructure, build up the combat component and create social and everyday conditions for its personnel," the Kyrgyz president pointed out.

Since the Kant air base was established, its personnel have been traditionally participating in international military drills conducted on the territory of Kyrgyzstan and neighboring states," Japarov said.

The Kant air base (Russia’s 999th air base) is part of the Central Military District’s Air Force and Air Defense Army and is one of four military facilities of the integrated Russian military base on Kyrgyz soil. The Kant base is also an air component of the CSTO (Collective Security Treaty Organization) Collective Rapid Deployment Force in the Central Asian region. Russia and Kyrgyzstan are both members of the post-Soviet security bloc.

The base is located at the Kant military aerodrome in the Chuy Region of Kyrgyzstan, 20 km east of Bishkek and 2 km south of the town of Kant. It can receive both frontline and military transport aircraft. Its primary goal is to control the Central Asian airspace.