“By providing assistance to the armed forces of Tajikistan Russia supports peace and stability in the region as a whole,” the commander of the Russian Central Military District, Lieutenant-General Alexander Lapin, said today while speaking at a ceremony of handover of Russian military aid to the Ministry of Defense of Tajikistan (MoD).
Russian general, in particular, noted ha Russia has provided a total more than US$140 million worth of technical assistance to Tajikistan since 2014.
Tajik Minister of Defense, Lieutenant-General Sherali Mirzo, expressed gratitude to the Russian authorities for the support.
“The armed forces of Tajikistan now have in their arsenal Russian-made modern powerful weapons that will be used for protection of peace and stability in the country and the region,” the Tajik minister said.
Recall, an official ceremony of handover of Russian arms and military equipment to Tajikistan took place in Dushanbe today. The ceremony took place in one of military units of the ministry deployed in uptown Dushanbe.
The aid reportedly includes personal weapons and ammunition, helicopters (Mi-8 and Mi-24), tanks (T-72), personnel armored carriers (BTR-80 and BMP-2), communications systems, artillery systems, medical and topographical equipment.
The aid is rendered within a major program for modernization of Tajikistan’s armed forces, signed between Moscow and Dushanbe in 2014.
In a statement released on December 18, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation says the major objective of the aid is in supporting the strengthening of Tajikistan’s common border with Afghanistan.
