Kyrgyzstan's President Almazbek Atambaev says he plans to demand overdue fees for Russian military assets on Kyrgyz soil during upcoming talks with the Russian leadership in Moscow.
Speaking to students at Osh University in Kyrgyzstan's south, Atambaev said he often faces criticism for what he descirbed as "constantly borrowing money from Russia."
But he said that now he is ready to talk with Russian leaders about payments for the Kremlin’s military facilities on Kyrgyz territory.
It was not immediately clear how much compensation the president will seek from Moscow.
Kyrgyzstan hosts a Russian long-distance communication center, a torpedo testing base at Lake Issyk-Kul, and a seismological station in the southern Jalal-Abad region.
Kyrgyzstan also hosts U.S. military facilities at the Manas airport near Bishkek, for which Washington pays rent.
With agency reports