DUSHANBE, August 9, 2012, Asia-Plus — Visiting Russian Ministry of Defense delegation, led by Deputy Defense minister, Anatoly Antonov, yesterday held talks here with Tajik Prime Minister Oqil Oilov and Foreign Minister Hamrokhon Zarifi.
The talks were held behind closed doors.
The Russian Ministry of Defense delegation arrived in Dushanbe in the evening of August 7 for a three-day working visit. Local experts consider that the prolongation of the Russian military base’s presence in Tajikistan is a major topic of the talks.
We will recall that official Dushanbe has been at odds with Moscow lately on the issue of the prolongation of the Russian military base’s presence in Tajikistan.
The current base agreement ends in 2014. In a report released at a news conference in Dushanbe, Tajik Foreign Minister Hamrokhon Zarifi noted on July 16 that talks regarding the military base are continuing and would be held behind firmly closed doors.
On July 17, Tajikistan”s Foreign Ministry denied a statement by the Russian Army’s Ground Forces commander, General Vladimir Chirkin that Dushanbe has allegedly accepted the Kremlin’s demands for “for no-fee operations,” allowing the base to be used by Russia for further 49 years, as baseless.
Under the current 10-year lease signed in 2004, Russia gets exclusive use of three military bases and joint use of an air base in Tajikistan free of charge. In all, there are more than 7,000 servicemen in three bases deployed in Dushanbe, Qurghon Teppa and Kulob.
The presence of Russian troops in Tajikistan reportedly accounts for Russia”s second-largest military contingent outside its own territory — following only the 13,000-strong Black Sea Fleet in the Ukrainian city of Sevastopol.
