DUSHANBE, October 7, 2015, Asia-Plus — Russia has deployed Mi-24P attack helicopters to reinforce its military base in Tajikistan, Interfax news agency quoted the Russian defense ministry as saying in a statement.
Russia”s Defense Ministry will reinforce its base in Tajikistan with attack and military transport helicopters, Colonel Yaroslav Roshchupkin , a spokesman for Russia”s Central Military District, told journalists on Wednesday.
According to him, the created aerial grouping will be based at the Ayni airfield in Hisor district, 30 kilometers of Dushanbe. The grouping now includes Mi-24P attack and Mi-8MTV transport and combat helicopters.
Tajikistan shares a border with Afghanistan, where there has been a flare-up in Taliban activity in the past few weeks.
During the meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Russia’s Black Sea resort of Sochi, Tajik President Emomali Rahmon noted on October 6 that Tajikistan is was “extremely concerned” about the situation along the Tajik-Afghan border.
Rahmon said the situation in Afghanistan was “getting worse by the day.” “Practically, fighting is going on along more than 60 percent of the Tajik border with Afghanistan,” he added.
The Russian military base deployed in Tajikistan is Russia”s largest non-naval military facility outside the country. It was officially opened in Tajikistan in 2004 under a previous agreement, which was signed in 1993, and hosts Russia’s largest military contingent deployed abroad.
A total of some 7,000 Russian troops are stationed at three military facilities collectively known as the 201st military base – in Dushanbe, Qurghon Teppa, some 100 kilometers from Dushanbe, and Kulob, about 200 kilometers southwest of Dushanbe.
