Asia-Plus – An official ceremony of handover of Russian arms and military equipment to Tajikistan is taking place in Dushanbe today, according to the Ministry of Defense (MoD) of Tajikistan.
An official source at a MoD says the ceremony is taking place in one of military units of the ministry deployed in uptown Dushanbe.
The aid includes personal weapons and ammunition, helicopters (Mi-8 and Mi-24), tanks (T-72), personnel armored carriers (BTR-80 and BMP-2), communications systems, artillery systems, medical and topographical equipment.
Most of the aid is reportedly the second hand hardware that was on the Russian armed forces’ balance.
The aid is rendered within a major program for modernization of Tajikistan’s armed forces, signed between Moscow and Dushanbe in 2014.
In a statement released on December 18, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation says the major objective of the aid is in supporting the strengthening of Tajikistan’s common border with Afghanistan.
