TODAY: Kyrgyz President announces intention to close US air base, although still in talks with US; closure could hinder Obama’s foreign policy aims with Russia; Belarus signs air defense pact with Russia; EU commissioners to meet in Moscow on trade disputes; Tajik President in Moscow; Alexander Glukhov.

Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev announced yesterday that his country would close a US air base supporting NATO’s military operations in Afghanistan in exchange for a set of financial incentives, ‘dampen[ing] optimistic hopes [of] a change in Moscow’s combative stance toward the West’.  A US military official called the announcement ‘political positioning’, and denied that the base would close.  The US will make an official response later today, but as of early this morning, the US had received no official notification to close the base, and its embassy in Kyrgyzstan says it will continue talks to keep the base open.  Many see the news, compounded by Iran’s announcement that it has successfully launched a home-built satellite into orbit, as creating significant obstacles for US President Barack Obama’s plans to convene arms reduction talks with Russia.  The Times notes that ‘better relations between Moscow and Washington are crucial to Obama’s other foreign policy priorities’.