“I hope Russia will help convince the President of Kyrgyzstan of not liquidating the America’s Manas airbase,” the NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer told in an interview with Echo of Moscow.

The NATO Secretary General said that during the talks in Munich, agreements were reached on many questions, including Afghanistan and combating terrorism and narcotics. "If NATO and Russia co-operate on this question, I hope that the decision of Kyrgyzstan government will not be final,” the Secretary General said. “Russia may play a considerable role in this issue.”

“It is strange, indeed, to see closing of the U.S. airbase in Kyrgyzstan. But it was not a coincidence. We are negotiating with Russia on setting communications across the Russian territory for successful implementation of our operation in Afghanistan,“ Mr. Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said.