By RIA Novosti,
Moscow : The commander of the Russian Navy will visit a naval research facility Russia rents on a lake in Kyrgyzstan, as part of his current visit to the Central Asian country, a Navy spokesman said on Thursday.
Admiral Vladimir Vysotsky arrived in the ex-Soviet state on Thursday to discuss the expansion of military-technical cooperation and strengthening of regional security with Kyrgyz top military officials.
“This is the first visit of the Russian Navy commander to the naval base on the shores of Lake Issyk-Kul,” Captain 1st Rank Igor Dygalo said. “Russia does not have such facilities on its territory.”
The testing site near the city of Karakol, 380 km (240 miles) from the capital Bishkek, was set up during the Soviet era and is still used to test advanced torpedo propulsion and guidance systems for the Russian Navy.
It has reportedly provided both a test bed and production facilities for one of the Soviet Union’s most advanced naval weapon systems, the super-cavitating 220 mph Skhval rocket torpedo, with a range of six nautical miles, designed to destroy large surface ships such as aircraft carriers.
Russia currently pays $4.5 million annually to use these military installations.
Vysotsky will also visit a Russian navy communications center in the village of Chaldovar in the Chui region, and the Russian Kant air base near Bishkek.
On March 18, the Kyrgyz parliamentary committee on security approved a resolution on the ratification of protocols between Kyrgyzstan and Russia on the use of Russian military facilities in the country and the status of servicemen of the Russian Armed Forces in the Republic of Kyrgyzstan.
The agreement, concluded by Kyrgyzstan and Russia in 1997, allows the Russian military to use Kyrgyz territory for the next 15 years.
Russia currently has 41 intergovernmental agreements with Kyrgyzstan on security cooperation. Both countries are members of the two major regional security blocs in Central Asia – the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).