India Intelligence Report
 

Russia to Strengthen C. Asia Presence

 

Russian President Vladimir Putin along with Kyrgyzstan President Kurmambek Bakiyev announced that Russia will increase its Air Force base force levels at Kant by 2.5 times in response to expansion of American base in Manas International Airport. Kyrgyzstan has allowed both Russia and the US to maintain bases there but is also part of the Russia-led Collective Treaty Security Organization’s (CTSO) rapid deployment force in Central Asia. 

Even though Putin insists that he is “reinforcing” the “mobile operational component” of the CTSO, Bakiyev said that he would close down the American base unless it paid his country a 100-fold increase in rent by June 1. Taken in context to Russian plans to deploy advanced defense systems in Belarus, the natural gas crisis in December 2005, resistance to sanctions on Iran, and closer friendship with China, it is can surmised that Russia is building up to something and distinctly anti-West.

It is not yet clear whether this is global posturing or responding to aggressive neo-conservative military assertion. It is also not clear what Russia will gain in these investments.

 
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