DUSHANBE, September 12, 2012, Asia-Plus — A Russian Ministry of delegation, led by the Deputy Minister of Defense, Anatoly Antonov, arrived in Dushanbe Tuesday evening.
The main purpose of the visit is for the delegation to discuss with high-ranking Tajik state officials issues related to the Russian military base’s presence in Tajikistan.
An official source at the Ministry of Defense (MoD) of Tajikistan says Minister of Justice Rustam Mengliyev heads a Tajik delegation for the negotiations with the Russian side.
It is the second visit of Anatoly Antonov to Tajikistan over the past month. Antonov was in Dushanbe on a working visit from August 7 to August 9. Issues related to the Russian military base’s presence in Tajikistan were a major topic of the delegation’s discussions with high-ranking Tajik state officials. The talks were held behind closed doors.
We will recall that a source close to the Russian diplomatic mission in Dushanbe told Asia-Plus in early September that the Russian side hopes that an agreement between Russia and Tajikistan on the prolongation of the Russian military base’s presence in Tajikistan will be signed during a visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to Tajikistan, which is scheduled for early October. According to him, Russia offers Tajikistan to extend term of the agreement on the Russian military base for ten years.
Official Dushanbe has been at odds with Moscow lately on the issue of the prolongation of the Russian military base’s presence in Tajikistan.
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.
