Tuesday September 25, 2001

MOSCOW - The Russian president yesterday opened his airspace to humanitarian flights by the anti-terrorist coalition led by the United States and said Central Asia governments had not ruled out the use of their air bases for Washington-led military action against Afghanistan.

In a speech on national television, Vladimir Putin also said Russia would intensify its support of Afghan opposition forces fighting the Taliban in the northeastern part of that country and was prepared to supply them with weapons and military equipment.

"We have coordinated this position with our allies among the Central Asian states. They share this position and do not rule out providing the use of their airfields," Putin said.

The address from the Kremlin marked Putin's most specific outline of steps his country plans to take to help the United States after the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington. The speech came two days after Putin spent an hour on the phone with President Bush.

Putin's speech signals the Kremlin's readiness to openly help the United States in its drive to capture Osama bin Laden, the Saudi born Islamic fundamentalist that Washington holds responsible for the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on Sept. 11. Use of air bases in Central Asia - considered under Moscow's sphere of influence - are believed key to the effort against bin Laden and terrorist camps he operates in neighboring Afghanistan.

"We are broadening cooperation with the internationally recognized government of Afghanistan headed by Mr. Rabbani and will render additional aid to its armed forces in the form of the supply of weapons and military equipment," Putin said.

Putin was referring to the government-in-exile of President Burhanuddin Rabbani, who was ousted by the Taliban. The Russians already have been helping the Afghan opposition, which controls about 5 percent of the territory of Afghanistan, by allowing helicopters to fly in and out of Tajikistan, where the Rabbani forces pick up supplies.

Meanwhile, yesterday, Kazakstan's president said his nation was ready to offer airspace and military bases for an anti-terrorist coalition.

"We've already given our general agreement that we'll provide all necessary support. But there has been no concrete request yet," President Nursultan Nazarbayev told a news conference in the Kazak capital Astana.

Of the five former Soviet republics in Central Asia, Kazakstan is the farthest from Afghanistan, the target of potential retaliatory strikes for the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States. Washington has expressed more interest in using bases in Uzbekistan or Tajikistan, which border Afghanistan.

The Central Asian nations and Russia - which wields considerable influence in the region - publicly had given conflicting signals about whether they will provide military assistance to the United States.

The Russian Interfax news agency, quoting unidentified sources, said three U.S. Air Force transport planes had arrived in Uzbekistan this weekend carrying about 200 U.S. troops and reconnaissance equipment. Russia's RTR television also reported the arrival of U.S. forces in Uzbekistan.

But Uzbek Defense Ministry spokesman Bakhtiar Shakirov denied yesterday that any U.S. planes had landed in Uzbekistan, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported.

At the same time, ITAR-Tass cited a witness saying he saw two large planes which looked like U.S. C-130 Hercules transports landing at a military field near Tashkent.

A spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in the Uzbek capital, Tashkent, refused to comment on the reports. Secretary of State Colin Powell, asked in an interview on ABC on Sunday whether troops had landed in Uzbekistan, said "not to my knowledge."

AP reporters visited the military airfield outside Tashkent where the planes allegedly landed and saw no signs of any American presence there. The capital's civilian airport is now heavily guarded and open only to ticketed passengers.

There were also unconfirmed media reports that U.S. forces had landed at an air base in Tajikistan. Officials would not immediately comment on the reports.

The northern alliance forces led by Rabbani, and now promised increased Russian support, are made up of the same rebel fighters that battled Soviet forces and finally defeated them in 1989. But Russia sees the Afghan opposition as the best bet for defeating the Taliban and preventing the spread of Islamic fundamentalism into Central Asia and Chechnya in the Caucuses region far to the west.

Putin also said a Pentagon delegation was due in Moscow late next week to discuss possible military action against the Taliban, though he ruled out Russian participation in such a campaign.

The Russian leader did not indicate if Moscow would give direct military assistance or troops to any U.S. operation. He did say, however, that Moscow would be ready to help in search-and-rescue operations.

Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov later said Washington had already requested - and been provided with - intelligence on international terrorist groups and their bases.

Since the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, Putin had remained noncommittal in public about Russia's strategy on possible U.S. strikes on Afghanistan, whose Taliban rulers refuse to hand over prime suspect Osama bin Laden and his fighters to the United States. Russia's cooperation is crucial, especially if an operation is staged from Central Asia.

Putin has said that Russia is ready for wide cooperation with the United States but other officials have indicated Moscow would not offer troops for any U.S. military action - and would not welcome any unilateral decisions by the United States.

In his speech yesterday, Putin also called for greater reliance on international organizations such as the United Nations and its Security Council in determining what steps to take against international terrorism.

"Other, deeper forms of cooperation between Russia and participants in the anti-terrorist operation are possible. The depth and character of this cooperation will directly depend on the general level and quality of our relations with these countries and on mutual understanding in the sphere of fighting international terrorism," Putin said.

Russia and the Central Asian states fear a refugee flood or spillover violence from U.S. strikes on Afghanistan could further rock the restive region and drain its scarce finances.

Before making his statement, Putin met with leading parliament members, saying he felt he should consult with them before making a final decision on Russia's involvement.

He also met with a group of Russia's Islamic leaders, urging them to help maintain stability in a country where an estimated one out of seven citizens is Muslim.

"We are living through a difficult time now because of attempts by some indecent people to use Islam as a cover for deeds that don't have anything in common with it," Putin said. He said that breaking the current "harmony" between Islam and Christianity "would be disastrous for our multiethnic country."