BISHKEK, June 25 (RIA Novosti) – Moscow will begin supplying weapons and other military equipment to Kyrgyzstan next year as part of a bilateral armed forces assistance program, Russia’s defense minister said Tuesday.
In November, Russia’s Kommersant newspaper wrote that Moscow had pledged to provide $1.1 billion worth of military assistance to the Central Asian country. However, on Tuesday, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu did disclose the cost of the program or the weapons that would be supplied.
Speaking at a meeting with Kyrgyzstan’s president, he said the assistance program had been finalized and would be discussed the next day at a gathering of top defense officials from the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a post-Soviet security group that includes China, Russia, Kyrgyzstan and other Central Asian states.
