DUSHANBE, March 3, 2011, Asia-Plus — The second round of negotiations between Tajikistan and Russia on control of the Tajik-Afghan border and a new draft agreement on border control cooperation has been launched in Dushanbe.
The source at the Main Border Troops Directorate of the State Committee for National Security (SCNS) of Tajikistan says like the first round this meeting is also being held behind closed doors. He refrained from giving further details. According to him, the meeting members reportedly include representatives from border services, security councils, government members of both countries.
In the meantime, a well-informed source said that it could not be ruled out that the Russian operational border group would be withdrawn from Tajikistan.
The first round of negotiations led by Sherali Mirzo, commander of Tajik border troops, and Anatoly Mikheyev, chief of the operational border group of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) in Tajikistan, took place in Dushanbe behind closed doors on February 17-19 and the new draft agreement on control of the Tajik-Afghan border was the focus of the negotiations.
When Russian border guards left Tajikistan in 2005 the two sides signed a five-year cooperation agreement that has now expired and the expert groups are considering the new draft agreement.
We will recall that Russian border guards were stationed alongside the Tajik border until 2006, when the task of guarding the border was handed over to their Tajik counterparts and a small group of Russian experts still remain there as consultants to the Tajik border services.
This operational border group stays in Tajikistan to perform advisory functions and provide assistance to Tajik border guards in the effective border patrolling and training of border guards under the bilateral agreement that was signed on October 16, 2004. This agreement was ratified in February 2006.
