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Kyrgyzstan sets July 2014 deadline for U.S. air base closure

by Reuters
Thursday, 20 June 2013 09:57 GMT

BISHKEK, June 20 (Reuters) - Kyrgyzstan's parliament voted on Thursday to give the United States until July 11, 2014 to shut its airforce base at the main civilian airport Manas, which it uses to fly U.S. troops and cargo in and out of Afghanistan.

A law to end Washington's lease of the base - the Manas Transit Center outside the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek - was passed by 91 votes to 5. The base has been in operation since the end of 2001.

Russia, vying with the West and China for influence in the resource-rich region, last September secured a 15-year extension to its lease of its air base in Kyrgyzstan. (Reporting by Olga Dzyubenko; Writing by Dmitry Solovyov; Editing by Janet Lawrence)

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.


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