MOSCOW, June 16 (RIA Novosti) - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has approved draft changes to an agreement with Kyrgyzstan on the lease of a Russian Air Force base in the Central Asian republic, the Kremlin said on Tuesday.
The Russian government approved on May 29 the new terms, which would specify a 49-year lease with an automatic extension every 25 years.
The modified agreement, the subject of negotiations between the Russian Foreign Ministry and the Kyrgyz authorities, would replace the existing 15-year lease with an automatic extension every 5 years.
According to the changes in the agreement published on the Kremlin website, the change in Article 3 reads: "This agreement will be valid for a period of 49 years and will be automatically extended in 25-year periods if, six months prior to the expiry of the current agreement, neither of the parties informs the second party in writing through diplomatic channels of its intention to annul the agreement."
Medvedev instructed the Foreign and Defense ministries to finalize the accord with Kyrgyzstan.
The original agreement between the two countries was signed in Moscow in September 2003 and the Russian airbase was officially opened in October of that year in the city of Kant, some 20 kilometers (12 miles) outside the capital, Bishkek.
It houses 250 Russian officers and 150 enlisted personnel from Russia's 5th Air Army, as well as SU-25 aircraft and Mi-8 transport helicopters.
In addition to the Russian base, Kyrgyzstan has hosted a U.S. airbase on its territory since 2001. Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev signed a decree in February to end Washington's lease on the base, and Bishkek has said the Manas airbase will be evacuated by foreign troops by the middle of August this year.
In April, Bakiyev signed a law ending the deployment of foreign military contingents from Australia, Denmark, Italy, Spain, South Korea, the Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand, Poland, Turkey and France, at the Manas airport, 30 kilometers (17 miles) east of the capital.
