Bishkek/Moscow  - The Kyrgyz government on Wednesday moved to shut down a strategic US airbase on its territory, crucial to supplying US and NATO operations in Afghanistan.

The United States has 180 days to close the airbase in the Central Asian state, the head of the country's Security Council, Adukhan Madumarov told journalists in Moscow on Wednesday.

"We see the United States as a democratic civilized country and believe that this country will fully comply with all relevant international bilateral agreements," he was quoted by news agency Interfax as saying.

Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev had declared a day earlier that his government was terminating the US contracts to lease the Manas airbase, just 30 kilometres outside the capital Bishkek.

The government's rapid U-turn on the base must still be approved by the Kyrgyz parliament, which expected to review a bill on the annulment of agreements with the US in session Thursday.

But the US embassy in Bishkek said it had received no notification of orders to close the airbase

"Discussions are ongoing," the embassy said in a statement Wednesday. "We have a broad range of programmes and interests we will continue to pursue with the government and people of Kyrgyzstan."

Rumors that the Kyrgyz government was under pressure from Russia to terminate the US lease agreement have intensified in the past few months.

While Moscow gave its blessing for the US to set up the Manas air base in 2001 to service operations in Afghanistan, Russian officials have long been suspicious of the US military presence in the former Soviet region, which it views as its traditional buffer zone of influence.

Tensions over the US military base, which lies just kilometres from a Russian airbase, increased as security relations with Washington suffered last year over US missile defence plans and US support for Georgia during a brief war with Russia in August.

But domestic tensions surrounding the base staffed by 1,000 servicemen in the tiny Central Asian republic have also grown since the 2006 killing of a Kyrgyz man by a US serviceman.

Bishkek expressed frustration the airbase had continued to exist so long and said it was not adequately compensated.

"Eight years has passed since the agreement was signed. Over that period the threat that existed (in Afghanistan) has been removed. This is one of the fundamental reasons for the cancellation of the agreement," the Kyrgyz government said in its recommendation.

"Negative attitude on the part of the republic's population toward the US military presence in the republic" the government cited as another reason for the move.

Moscow denied Thursday that a two-billion-dollar aide package to the financially-strapped nation constituted a financial incentive to speed the closure of the US base.

Closure of the Manas base would deal a fierce blow to President Barack Obama's new administration and undercut hope for an improvement in US-Russian relations.

Obama, for whom Afghanistan is a foreign policy priority, has approved the deployment of thousands of additional troops to fight the resurgent Taliban, but Manas is the only US airbase near enough to practically supply operations in northern Afghanistan.

Russia signaled last week it would cooperated with Obama on Afghanistan and allow US and NATO forces supply routes through its southern territory.

Despite Bakiyev announcing the base closure during his visit to Moscow, the Kremlin has been at pains to stress the issue was a domestic political decision.

Analysts, however, say Russia had clearly made the massive loan and debt write off contingent on ousting the US military. They suggested that Russia may seek to leverage the issue in negotiations with the US on other sensitive security differences.

But the issue is not final. Russia's Finance Ministry was quoted by news agency Ria-Novosti as saying they had not yet finalized the terms of the loan, and many in Kyrgyzstan were critical of Bakiyev's announcement. (dpa)