DUSHANBE, July 5, 2012, Asia-Plus — Decision on the Russian military base deployed in Tajikistan may be made during a meeting of defense ministers of Tajikistan and Russia in Kaliningrad, a source in Russian military-diplomatic circles was quoted as saying in an interview with Itar-Tass.
The source noted that the meeting would take place on the sidelines of the next meeting of the CIS council of defense ministers that is opening in Kaliningrad today.
Meanwhile, an official source at the Ministry of Defense of Tajikistan says Tajik Defense Minister Sherali Khairulloyev’s visit to Russia will until July 8. The source, however, refused to comment on the negotiations between the defense ministries of Tajikistan and Russia in Kaliningrad. “We have no information about such negotiations,” he said.
We will recall that Army General Nikolai Makarov, Chief of the General Chief Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, told Interfax on July 3 that the Ministry of Defense of Russia will not allocate funds for the development of Russia’s military base in Tajikistan while an uneasy negotiating process on issues related to deployment of the base in Tajikistan after 2014 is going on. “The negotiations are making difficult progress, but we hope common sense will prevail,” Makarov told Interfax in an interview.
In a report released at the session of the Federation Council (Russia’s upper house of parliament), Russian Ground Forces commander, Colonel-General Vladimir Chirkin, revealed on June 26 that the agreement extending the presence of Russia’s military base in Tajikistan for another 49 years is under threat. “There are many problems which may put under threat the signing of the agreement on extension of the presence of Russia”s military base in Tajikistan,” Chirkin said, adding that Tajikistan proposed to cut the presence of the Russian military base to 10 years. “In connection with the predicted aggravation of interstate contradictions in the field of use of land and power-and-water resources and lands in Central Asia local conflicts with participation of Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan may arise,” the Russian general said.
A statement released by the Ministry of Defense of Tajikistan on July 1 says that politically incorrect statement made by General Chirkin that predicts the possibility of appearance of local conflicts in Central Asia will scarcely promote the establishment of constructive and good-neighborly relations between the countries of the region.
Russian Vice-Premier in charge of defense and space industry, Dmitry Rogozin, considers that NATO presence in Central Asia impacts Tajikistan-Russia talks on military base. “After withdrawal of the NATO forces from Afghanistan, I hope it will happen quite soon, the situation will change substantially,” Rogozin told RIA Novosti in an interview. “NATO forces are not in Afghanistan permanently, while Russia will be eternal partner of these countries [Tajikistan and Uzbekistan], and when the situation is bad for security of these countries, they will remember both Russia and the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO).”
As it had been reported earlier, Tajik Foreign Minister told reporters in Dushanbe on July 18, 2011 that Tajik territory cannot be used by a foreign military free of charge. Some Russian media source reported last year that Tajik Foreign Minister Hamrokhon Zarifi suggested that Russia should pay 300 million annually and they deemed this suggestion “unrealistic.”
Under the current 10-year lease signed in 2004, Russia gets exclusive use of three military bases and joint use of an air base free of charge. During their talks in Dushanbe on September 2, 2011, Tajik President Emomali Rahmon and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev agreed to sign a formal agreement extending the presence of Russia”s 201st Division in Tajikistan for another 49 years.
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.
