DUSHANBE, August 8, 2012, Asia-Plus – A Russian Ministry of Defense delegation, led by the Deputy Defense Minister in charge of international cooperation, Anatoly Antonov, arrived in Dushanbe Tuesday evening for a three-day working visit, an official source at the Ministry of Defense of Tajikistan told Asia-Plus Wednesday morning.
According to him, Anatoly Antonov is scheduled to hold talks with Tajikistan’s Prime Minister Oqil Oqilov, Foreign Minister Hamrokhon Zarifi and a number of other high-ranking Tajik state officials. The meeting of the Russian delegation with Tajik Defense Minister Sherali Khairulloyev is not planned, the source added.
Local experts consider that the prolongation of the Russian military base’s presence in Tajikistan will be 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.
