Russian media reports say Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu yesterday held talks in Dushanbe with his Tajik counterpart Sherali Mirzo.
In the course of the talks, the Russian minister of defense reportedly noted that Tajik military forces will take part in the Tsentr (Center) strategic command post exercise that will take place in Central Military District in Russia and in the Collective Security Treaty Organization's (CSTO) military exercises in Tajikistan this year.
After the talks, Sergei Shoigu reportedly inspected the Russian military base in Dushanbe.
The Russian military base deployed in Tajikistan is Russia's largest non-naval military facility outside the country. It was officially opened in Tajikistan in 2004 under a previous agreement, which was signed in 1993, and hosts Russia’s largest military contingent deployed abroad.
A total of some 7,000 Russian troops are now stationed at two military facilities collectively known as the 201st military base – in Dushanbe and Bokhtar (formerly Qurghon Teppa, some 100 kilometers from Dushanbe.
In October 2012, Moscow and Dushanbe signed a lease agreement under which the military base will be deployed in Tajikistan until 2042.
Recall, in a statement delivered at the 46th meeting of the Council of Heads of Security Agencies and Special Services of CIS member nations in Dushanbe, Director of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), Alexander Bortnikov, revealed on May 21 that about 5,000 militants from the Islamic State (IS) terror group have amassed in northern Afghanistan along its common border with the CIS member nations. “The deployment of terrorist groups to Afghanistan’s northern provinces bordering the CIS states is especially alarming,” FSB chief stressed.
