Defense Minister Abdilla Kudaiberdiyev said the government may seek a fourfold increase on the $4.5 million in annual rent Russia pays for an air base and three other military facilities. He mentioned a possible figure of $18 million.

Impoverished Kyrgyzstan’s location in the southern reaches of the former Soviet Union and on China’s mountainous western border has made it an object of a lively strategic rivalry. As well as leasing military facilities to Russia, Kyrgyzstan also hosts the Manas US air base at the airport in Bishkek, a vital hub for troops and supplies destined for nearby Afghanistan.

“The previous agreement was signed in 1993, and at that time $4.5 million was a very substantial sum,” Kudaiberdiyev said Thursday. Kudaiberdiyev also said Moscow owed Kyrgyzstan $6 million in unpaid rent and that the debt could be settled with the delivery of some weapons. The Kyrgyz army is woefully equipped and the guarantee of new supplies would be eagerly welcomed.

No definitive agreement on the Russian military is likely ahead of the Oct. 10 parliamentary elections — the first such vote since former President Kurmanbek Bakiyev was ousted in a bloody revolt in April. The influence of the legislature was boosted and the president’s powers watered down after voters overwhelmingly backed a June referendum on constitutional reform.

Russia’s air base in Kant is seen as an important outpost for the Collective Security Treaty Organization, a Russia-dominated alliance of ex-Soviet nations designed as a counterweight to NATO. Around 500 Russian troops and more than 20 aircraft are stationed at the base.

Russia has a long interest in further expanding its military footprint in Kyrgyzstan.

Kyrgyz Foreign Minister Ruslan Kazakbayev said last month that the government was in principle open to the idea of creating a new Russian military base in the south, which was ravaged earlier this year by ethnic riots that killed hundreds of ethnic Uzbeks.