Russian State Duma Speaker Against Deployment Of Us Permanent Military Bases In Central Asia

Russian State Duma Speaker Gennady Seleznyov has come out against the deployment of US permanent military bases in Central Asia. The speaker announced this at a press conference in Astana, Kazakhstan's capital, on Wednesday. Seleznyov is heading the State Duma delegation, currently on an official visit to Kazakhstan. According to him, "we wouldn't like the US military bases to appear in Central Asia." He is concerned about the US attempt to intensify its presence in Central Asia by means of deploying there its military bases. "Yesterday I heard a US top official to say that the USA will not repeat the mistake of the Soviet Union and will not leave Afghanistan," Seleznyov said. The State Duma Speaker is convinced that "the CIS countries being the states signatory to the Collective Security Treaty should not take any decisions without consultations with each other". According to Seleznyov, the presidents, governments and parliaments of the Collective Security Treaty members "will thoroughly consider the status of foreign military units to be stationed in Kirghizia, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan". The State Duma delegation will visit Tajikistan and "will inquire about the life of American, French and other servicemen there and about the way the air fields will be used," he said. Zharmakhan Tuyakbai, the speaker of the lower house of the Kazakh parliament (mazhilis), gave a negative answer to the journalists' question on the possible deployment of foreign military bases in Kazakh territory. According to him, "we had no proposals of this kind and the government did not discuss these issues. But Kazakhstan will take all necessary measures for the struggle against international terrorism to be effective."