Interfax and RIA-Novosti quoted Kurmanbek Bakiyev as making the statement just minutes after Russia announced it was providing the poor ex-Soviet country with billions of dollars in aid.
The Kyrgyz government "has made the decision on ending the term for the American base on the territory of Kyrgystan and in the near future, this decision will be announced," Bakiyev was quoted by ITAR-Tass as saying.
Kyrgyz government officials could not be immediately reached for comment. U.S. Embassy officials in Bishkek could not be immediately reached either.
The United States set up the Manas base in Kyrgyzstan and a base in neighboring Uzbekistan after the September 2001 terror attacks, to back operations in Afghanistan. Uzbekistan expelled U.S. troops from the base on its territory in 2005 in a dispute over human rights issues, leaving Manas as the only U.S. military facility in the immediate region.
Russia has long been suspicious of the U.S. presence in what it considers its strategic backyard.
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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