Putin approves ratification of protocol on drones at Russian military base in Kyrgyzstan

Bishkek, Feb.19, 2020. /Kabar/. Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law on ratification of the protocol on amendments to the agreement between Russia and Kyrgyzstan on a joint military Russian base. The law will enable unmanned aerial vehicle units to be included into the Russian base. The document has been published on the official legal information portal. The provisions of the protocol eliminate inconsistencies between Russian and Kyrgyz legislation regarding the use of unmanned aerial vehicles, and also establish the procedure for organizing flights of unmanned aerial vehicles and aircraft of the Russian Federation in the airspace of the republic. The entry into force of the protocol will allow the Russian side to introduce units of unmanned aerial vehicles into the unified Russian military base and organize their use. The joint inventory, conducted earlier in the process of formalizing Russia's right of temporary use of sites in places where the military base is located, revealed inconsistency of their size with the parameters fixed in a bilateral agreement. In particular, the excess amounted to 58.32 hectares. In this connection, the protocol established a new (higher) annual rent for the use of land plots and water area by Russia - about $4 million 794 thousand. The Russian Kant Joint Military Air Base in Kyrgyzstan is structurally part of the Central Military District and is an aviation component of the Collective Rapid Reaction Forces. Among other things, the base performs tasks to ensure the security of the territory and airspace of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) member states, including Kyrgyzstan. The base is armed with Su-25 attack aircraft and Mi-8 helicopters.