A five-day military exercise for servicemen of the Russian military base deployed in Tajikistan has reportedly begun today.
According to the press center of Russia’s Central Military District, the exercise involving 1,000 military personnel along with more than 200 pieces of modern military equipment, including tanks, armored vehicles and multiple-launch rocket systems "Grad" and "Uragan is being conducted at Lohour and Sumbuli training grounds.
The exercise reportedly includes simulated combat maneuvers in both mountainous and desert terrains. The exercise participants will also have to complete a forced march to the designated areas.
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 now stationed at two military facilities collectively known as the 201st military base – in Dushanbe and Bokhtar (formerly Qurghon Teppa, some 100 kilometers from Dushanbe.
In October 2012, Moscow and Dushanbe signed a lease agreement, under which the military base will be deployed in Tajikistan until 2042.
Recall, in a statement delivered at the 46th meeting of the Council of Heads of Security Agencies and Special Services of CIS member nations in Dushanbe, Director of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), Alexander Bortnikov, revealed on May 21 that about 5,000 militants from the Islamic State (IS) terror group have amassed in northern Afghanistan along its common border with the CIS member nations. “The deployment of terrorist groups to Afghanistan’s northern provinces bordering the CIS states is especially alarming,” FSB chief stressed.
Russian Minster of Defense, Sergei Shoigu, inspected the Russian military base in Dushanbe on May 28.
