A military exercise has been conducted for servicemen of the Russian military base deployed in Tajikistan at the Lohour training grounds located about 20 kilometers southeast of Dushanbe, the base press center said on August 26.
The exercise scenario was reportedly based on illegal armed formation attacking the military infrastructure facilities. The “militants” moved forward to the Lohour training grounds area for the purpose of destabilizing the situation and seizing material support and communication system facilities.
The servicemen reportedly practiced repelling militants’ attack, fighting in localities and organizing agile defense.
According to the press center of the Russian military base in Tajikistan, the one-day exercise involved about 500 military personnel, along with 50 military and special purpose vehicles.
The Russian military base deployed in Tajikistan is Russia's largest non-naval military facility outside the country.
Russia first established the 201st military base in Tajikistan in 2004 with a contingent of several thousand personnel from a motorized infantry division stationed in Tajikistan 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.