MOSCOW: Kyrgyzstan played a "dirty trick" in deciding to let the United States keep using an airbase that Moscow wanted closed, a source in the Russian foreign ministry was quoted as saying yesterday.

The unnamed source, speaking to the Kommersant daily newspaper, vowed that Russia would make a "corresponding response" to the Central Asian country's decision on the Manas airbase.

On Tuesday, Kyrgyzstan announced it had signed an agreement with the United States allowing US personnel to keep using the airbase as a "transit center" for the transport of non-lethal military goods to Afghanistan.