Russia to Limit US Military Presence in Central Asia

Russia will seek to put time limits on the American military presence in Central Asia, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said in an article published on Tuesday.

Writing in the weekly magazine "Kommersant Vlast," Ivanov said the joint fight against international terrorism is part of Russia's cooperation with the U.S..

"Thanks to the action of the anti-terrorist coalition, one has been able to practically eliminate the security threat to Russia and our partners in the Commonwealth of Independent States -- to destroy the terrorist bases on Afghan territory," Ivanov wrote.

"It is clear that alone we would not have had the strength. That is why the participation of the United States and other countries in the anti-terrorist coalition in Afghanistan responds on the whole to our national interests," he added.

However, the minister said Russian tolerance was reaching its limits. "In the dialogue with the United States, we are now and in the future going to seek maximum transparency of their (U.S.) military activities in the region and time limits on their military presence."

Vladimir Rushailo, the secretary of Russia's presidential Security Council on a trip to Kyrgyzstan Tuesday, also said that Moscow had approved the deployment of anti-terror coalition forces in Central Asia for operations in Afghanistan "on short-term basis."

The U.S. has deployed hundreds of troops in the central Asian countries of Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan after it launched anti-terrorist war in Afghanistan last year.

The U.S. has said its military deployment in Central Asia was temporary but that U.S. forces would stay in the region for as long as it takes to eliminate the terrorist threat.

(Xinhua News Agency June 12, 2002)