Marat Sultanov said he had raised the issue during his visit to Moscow last week. He also said a U.S. airbase in the ex-Soviet state could be shut down if Russia and a post-Soviet security organization reinforced their base.
"We brought up the issue of bringing Russian border guards back to this country, as unfortunately, Kyrgyzstan's military budget does not yet allow us to ensure our country's proper defense capabilities and protect our southern borders, which are also the borders of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO)."
Russia said currently it is not prepared to send troops to Kyrgyzstan, but would consider sending advisers to assist the Kyrgyz frontier service, according to Sultanov.
Russia withdrew its frontier troops from Kyrgyzstan in 1999. It now maintains frontier service representatives at the Manas airbase leased by the United States, which deploys about 1,000 personnel and has military transport aircraft there. Russia also has 11,000 border guards in neighboring Tajikistan which borders on Afghanistan.
Sultanov said in Moscow they had also suggested increasing the number of personnel at the CSTO airbase in Kant, about 20 miles west of the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek. He said in that event, Kyrgyzstan could review the need for the U.S. airbase in the country.
"If the Kant base is enlarged, the security of our airspace and our state borders will be ensured, and [the need for] further operations at the Manas base, which provides air support to international antiterrorism coalition troops in Afghanistan, could be discussed," Sultanov said.
Manas is the only U.S. base in post-Soviet Central Asia since Uzbekistan evicted American troops from its territory last year amid criticism of its handling of the Andijan uprising in 2005.
The Kant base, which was opened in 2003, has 300 personnel, five Su-25 Frogfoot close support aircraft, and several training planes and helicopters.
The CSTO has a Collective Rapid Reaction Force in Central Asia. Russia earlier said a united regional air defense system could be enlarged to encompass almost all the territory of the former Soviet Union within the CSTO framework in the future.
The enlargement of the military contingent of the CSTO - one of chief goals of which is the fight against the traffic of Afghan drugs via the ex-Soviet Central Asian states to Russia and further on to Europe - could be viewed as a step to counterbalance NATO's eastward expansion and address Moscow's concerns about U.S. plans to deploy missile bases in Central Europe.
Speaking about the proposed missile shield in Europe and reports on plans for its expansion to the Caucasus May 14, CSTO chief Nikolai Bordyuzha said: "It is all part of large-scale activity designed to create a well-developed military infrastructure around Russia, Belarus and other CSTO countries."
