DUSHANBE, September 13, 2012, Asia-Plus – Russia and Tajikistan will consider the final draft of the agreement on status and terms of deployment of Russia’s military base in Tajikistan within the next few weeks, Russian Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov told RIA Novosti in an interview on September 13.
“Negotiations were conducted in a friendly and constructive atmosphere; although both sides have their own positions, they have been seeking compromise,” Antonov was quoted as saying by RIA Novosti.
According to Antonov, he is satisfied with the results of his two-day visit to Tajikistan. “A group of officers from the Ministry of Defense remains in Dushanbe to continue work on the final text of the agreement,” the general said.
The negotiations were conducted at the Kokhi Vahdat State Complex in Dushanbe behind closed doors. A Tajik delegation was headed by Minister of Justice Rustam Mengliyev.
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.
After talks in Dushanbe with President Emomali Rahmon in April, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stated that the lease for the three Russian-controlled garrisons in Tajikistan, which shares a poorly secured border with Afghanistan, would be extended by 49 years.
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.
