Plans for the United States to construct an anti-terror training center in southern Kyrgyzstan have collapsed. The demise of the project raises concerns about stabilization prospects in southern Kyrgyzstan, a region that is still searching to regain a sense of equilibrium following an outburst of inter-ethnic violence in June.
Amid a grand display of Russian flags in Yerevan, Russian and Armenian leaders on August 20 signed an agreement that extends Moscow’s lease on its Gyumri military base near Turkey to 2044. Russian President Dmitri Medvedev and Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan framed the deal as a way to guarantee peace in the South Caucasus, but critics contend that the pact is not a partnership between equals.
Russia’s reported plans to sell two of its S-300 Favorit air-defense systems to Azerbaijan are seen as a done deal in Baku, where analysts argue that the systems could be put to good use protecting the country’s extensive energy extraction projects and pipeline networks.
Plans to grant Russia a 49-year lease on its base in Armenia have sparked heated opposition criticism of the Armenian government for allegedly selling short the country’s independence. The agreement is expected to be signed next week during Russian President Dmitri Medvedev’s state visit to Yerevan on August 19.
For more than six years, the Pentagon paid fees to the Turkmen government for the use of the Central Asian nation’s airports. However, officials in Washington either won’t or can’t say just how much was paid to Ashgabat from 2002-2008. All that they will say is that such payments made to Turkmenistan were inadvertent.
The Pentagon appears set to spend over $40 million on security infrastructure projects in Central Asia. The money for the building spree will come from US Central Command’s counter-narcotics fund.
It may not approach the scale of the great battleship race between Britain and Germany that preceded World War I, but a naval build-up is currently and quietly taking place on the Caspian Sea. Kazakhstan appears to be setting the pace, with plans to buy six ships for its navy by the end of 2010.
The Pentagon is preparing to embark on a mini-building boom in Central Asia. A recently posted sources-sought survey indicates the US military wants to be involved in strategic construction projects in all five Central Asian states, including Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
With the organization of its first defense exposition, Kazakhstan's Ministry of Defense is making a significant push to expand its sources for military hardware beyond its traditional supplier - Russia. But questions remain about how serious Kazakhstan is about westernizing its military, and if such a move is more cosmetic than substantive.
