President Putin said in Moscow on April 24 in conjunction with the visit of Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiev that Russia intends to improve the air base at Kant in the Central Asian republic. He noted that the base assists \"collective rapid deployment forces and contributes to ensuring security and stability, not only in Kyrgyzstan but also in the Central Asian region as a whole.\" He called the continuing improvement of Kant \"one of our priorities. It is a mobile operational component of the collective rapid deployment forces of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) in the Central Asian region, and we are interested in building up its resources.\" For his part, Bakiev referred to the \"importance and timeliness of our cooperation in the framework of the CSTO. This cooperation is especially timely now for the fight against international terrorism, religious extremism, the danger posed by narcotics, and organized crime.\" (vesti.ru)