Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev announced plans to close down the U.S. base at Manas, used to support NATO operations in nearby Afghanistan since 2001, after talks last Tuesday in Moscow, where he secured substantial financial aid from Russia.
"Russia and our CSTO colleagues have already made steps towards offering our territory for the railway transit of civilian cargoes. Therefore, I do not think the situation is likely to greatly affect the transit, the deliveries of the necessary cargoes to Afghanistan," Dmitry Rogozin said during a video conference.
The CSTO, the Collective Security Treaty Organization, is a post-Soviet regional security bloc comprising the former Soviet republics of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.
The Kyrgyz parliamentary defense and security committee approved the closure of the base on Monday.
A government spokesman said the Cabinet would shortly submit to parliament another "11 related bills" terminating the agreement on the deployment of coalition forces at Manas airport.
Kyrgyz Prime Minister Igor Chudinov said last week that the decision to close the airbase was not linked to the deals under which Russia will write off Kyrgyzstan's $180 million debt and grant the country a $2 billion soft loan and $150 million in financial aid.
Russia, which also runs a military base in Kyrgyzstan, has also denied that the closure is linked to the loan, and has pledged to continue cooperation with Washington on Afghanistan after the base is closed.
The United States will have 180 days to withdraw its 1,000 military personnel from the base once the agreement is formally terminated.
