Tag Archives: military bases

NATO plans training base in Georgia

>>Russia has warned Georgia about getting too close to NATO>>

JAN. 30 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — NATO plans to open training facility in Georgia by the end of the year, a move certain to irritate Russia which has previously warned the Georgian government not to get too close to the Western military alliance.

Alexander Vershbow, NATO deputy secretary-general, announced the opening of the base on a trip to Tbilisi.

For Georgia, the decision by NATO to open a training centre is a major diplomatic coup. It is desperate to join the alliance and has been a keen supporter of its mission in Afghanistan. Georgia still has soldiers serving in Afghanistan.

As for NATO, the move is more risky. It doesn’t want to antagonise Russia but it also needs to look strong.

Over Ukraine, Russia and NATO are already engaged in something of a proxy war. NATO accuses Russia of sending weapons and soldiers to help pro-Russian rebels fight the Ukrainian forces. It is also considering arming the Kiev government forces.

It’s not entirely clear what the NATO training centre in Georgia will look like or what it will actually do. Relations between Georgia and Russia have steadily been improving since a war in 2008.

During the war, Russia forces roamed parts of Georgia and occupied military bases. Placing a base, even a training centre, in Georgia will move NATO onto the frontline.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 217, published on Feb. 4 2015)

Russia boosts its airbase in Kyrgyzstan

DEC. 9 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Russia increased the number of military planes at its base outside Bishkek, the eurasianet.org website reported. Quoting Russian media, eurasianet.org said Russia had moved five SU-25SM ground attack jets to Kant, the airbase. The US quit its airbase outside Bishkek earlier this year.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 212, published on Dec. 10 2014)

Germany extends military base lease in Uzbekistan

OCT. 31 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Germany has agreed a deal with Uzbekistan to keep open an air base in the south of the country, media reported. According to German media, a helicopter crash a few days

before the current lease ran out at the end of October complicated the deal to extend the lease for the base which Germany took over in 2001 in the aftermath of the attack on New York by Al Qaeda and the NATO invasion of Afghanistan.

The base is important for several reasons.

After the withdrawal of the US military from their base outside Bishkek, the German base in Uzbekistan will now be NATO’s only full time base in the region. The French air force use the airport at Dushanbe but they share many of the facilities with civilian aircraft.

Uzbekistan is also an important transit country for NATO which is planning on shifting most of its kit out of Afghanistan through Uzbekistan and Russia.

For Uzbekistan, the German base is also something of a bulwark against the threat of Al Qaeda and Taliban across the border in Afghanistan.

Neither Uzbek nor German officials gave any details on the lease extension deal. Media reported that Germany stations about 300 soldiers at the base. Details of a 2011 deal showed that it paid 16m euros a year to lease the base.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 207, published on Nov. 5 2014)

Manas closure hits Kyrgyz economy

SEPT. 24 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – The closure of the US airbase at Manas outside Bishkek earlier this year is already having a knock-on effect on the local economy, the eurasianet.org website reported. It its story, eurasianet.org reported that around 2,000 Kyrgyz truck drivers were now out of a job because of the closure.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 202, published on Oct. 1 2014)

Tajik police detained Russians

AUG. 27 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Police in Tajikistan detained two Russian soldiers for the suspected murder of a Tajik taxi driver in Dushanbe, media reported. Russia maintains a major military base, its largest overseas base, in the Pamir Mountains. If the soldiers are formally accused of killing the taxi driver, it could dampen important bilateral relations.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 198, published on Sept. 3 2014)

US denies it wants an Uzbek base

AUG. 1 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – The United States denied it was discussing setting up a base in Uzbekistan after media reports said a deal was imminent. The US pulled out of its base outside Bishkek this year and speculation has been rising that it may be looking to set up a new Central Asia hub.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 194, published on Aug. 6 2014)

US contractor jailed in Bishkek

MAY 29 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Controversy has always stalked the US air base outside Bishkek and even as it wrapped up its mission in Kyrgyzstan on June 3 scandal hovered.

The military facility’s closing ceremony came only a few days after a local court sentenced one of its contractors to four years in jail on hooliganism charges.

Brandon Cornelius, a service manager at the so-called Manas Transit Center, was arrested in the early hours of March 9 after a drunken pursuit of a 22-year old girl. Although the girl did not push through sexual harassment charges, Cornelius allegedly attacked the arresting police officers.

The court verdict was a typically inglorious footnote to the Transit Center, which began life in 2001 as a major logistical hub for the US-led war in Afghanistan but has grown increasingly unpopular with locals.

In 2006, US soldier Zachary Hatfield shot a Kyrgyz man. Hatfield said he was threatened with a knife. He was transferred back to the United States, escaping punishment.

Although estimates of the Transit Center’s annual contribution to the local economy exceed $200 million, many Kyrgyz will be happy to see the back of US soldiers and hard-drinking defence contractors. A February 2014 poll backed by Gallup found 59% of Kyrgyz respondents viewed the Transit Center negatively, compared to 18% positively.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 187, published on JUNE 4 2014)

Russia bolsters forces in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan

MAY 23 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Russia views Central Asia as an imminent conflict zone and has bolstered operations at its military bases in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu said at the third Moscow Conference on International Security.

The Kant air base outside Bishkek, he said, in particular had seen a significant increase in manpower and airpower in the past couple of years.

This coincides with the US drawdown from its own airbase outside Bishkek as operations to Afghanistan have slowed.

But neither Moscow’s airbase at Kant nor its military installation outside Dushanbe, Tajikistan, both operating under the auspices of the Russia-led regional security group the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO), have played any major role in ensuring Central Asian stability. During revolution and ethnic violence in Kyrgyzstan in 2010, as well as clashes between pro and anti-government forces in Tajikistan’s east in 2012, the Russians were nowhere to be seen.

Mr Shoigu’s comments could be interpreted as a sign that Moscow is readying to become a regional security guarantor now that Washington is exiting the region.

That said, the comments may also just be another round of posturing by Russia in its so-called near abroad.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 186, published on May 28 2014)

Russia considers buying airport in Kyrgyzstan

MARCH 5 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — For visitors to Kyrgyzstan’s main civilian airport, Manas, catching sight of US warplanes taking off in the distance used to be part of arriving in Bishkek. Not anymore.

As the NATO withdrawal from Afghanistan continues these glimpses of the US military have become increasingly rare. It is quitting its airbase next to Manas civilian airport from where it has flown missions to Afghanistan since 2001.

Given Russian opposition to the facility, Kyrgyzstan’s leaders had few choices but to call time on the co-called Transit Center.

And this seems to suit locals.

“I have no problem with America but I don’t think we needed this base,” said Askar Bolotbayev, a Bishkek resident.

“It doesn’t provide us with electricity, it isn’t something we can export. We somehow survived before it and we will survive after it, too.”

Yet, with the centre worth roughly $200m to the anaemic Kyrgyz economy, Kyrgyzstan is keen to fill a hole by turning their main airport into something bigger and better.

Dair Tokobayev, an official at Manas airport, told local press that the government wanted to transform Manas into a regional transit hub.

But not without Russian backing, of course. Russian energy company Rosneft is reportedly considering buying a 51% stake in the airport.

(News report from Issue No. 174, published on March 5 2014)

Final US military plane takes off from Kyrgyz base

FEB. 25 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — The final US aerial re-fuelling tanker supporting military missions in Afghanistan took off from the Manas airbase outside Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, the US military said. According to US data, re-fuelling tankers have flown 33,000 missions from Manas. The US military is quitting Manas this year.

(News report from Issue No. 173, published on Feb. 26 2014)