October 25, 2003	Saturday	Sha’aban 28, 1424

MOSCOW: In an attempt to shore up influence in a region it once ruled, President Vladimir Putin on Friday opened Russia’s first airbase in central Asia since the break-up of the Soviet Union.

Mr Putin and the Kyrgyz president, Askar Akayev, opened the Kant airbase, close to the capital, Bishkek, where 500 Russian military personnel and 10 Su-27 and Su-25 jets will be based.

The Russian base is just a few dozen kilometres from the Manas military base where 2,000 American troops are stationed, much to the concern of Russian nationalists and some of the Russian government.

Mr Putin said Manas was part of the international fight against terrorism whilst Kant was specifically for the protection of Kyrgyzstan, reflecting Russia’s concerns about the rise of fundamentalism in the area.

“The terrorists came here as if they were at home,” said Mr Putin, speaking of events in 1999-2000 when radicals based in Tajikistan launched attacks on Kyrgyzstan. “If there had been a base here, events would have developed differently.”

The US moved troops to the two former Soviet republics of Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan in 2001, initially with Mr Putin’s blessing, as part of the build-up to the invasion of Afghanistan and defeat of the Taliban.

As well as Manas, a base was built at Khanabad in the south of Uzbekistan, while Tajikistan opened its airfields to American planes.—Dawn/The Guardian News Service.