Russian president Vladimir Putin, at a meeting with US president Joe Biden in Geneva in June, warned the American leader against attempts to establish military bases in Central Asian countries amid developments in Afghanistan, Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said.
"In this regard, from the very beginning, and the president said this to Biden in June when they met in Geneva - because this topic came up, we already foresaw what would happen - and Putin told Biden: "We are categorically against you trying, as we have heard, to negotiate with Central Asian countries about placing some military infrastructure on their territory in order to carry out so-called over-the-horizon strikes on Afghan territory, if necessary," Lavrov said on "1/6" Kirill Vyshinsky's program on the Russia 24 TV channel.
Lavrov noted that the US had made such a proposal not only to Afghanistan's Central Asian neighbors, but also to other countries.
"There were such appeals to Pakistanis, they refused, Uzbekistan publicly stated that their constitution does not provide for such actions with the placement of military bases on their territory, and the Kyrgyz publicly declared through the president that they do not want this," Lavrov added.
"But knowing the importunity of the Americans, I do not exclude that they will continue to come from different sides with the same topic. The last thing I heard was that supposedly they are already trying to drag India into giving the Pentagon some capabilities on Indian territory," Lavrov said.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: official website of the President of the Russian Federation
Based on materials from RIA Novosti