On Tuesday February 8, Dushanbe Mayor Rustam Emomali met with newly appointed commander of the Russian 201st military base deployed in Tajikistan, Colonel Yevgeny Kovylin.
According to the Dushanbe mayor’s office, the parties discussed issues related to further expansion of cooperation within the framework of the strategic partnership between Tajikistan and Russia.
They reportedly also exchanged views on establishment of the mutually beneficial cooperation between Dushanbe and constituent entities of the Russian Federation in various areas.
Russia’s Ambassador to Tajikistan Igor Lyakin-Frolov also attended the meeting.
Colonel Yevgeny Kovylin was appointed commander of the Russian 201st military base on January 13, 2022.
Kovylin reportedly graduated from the Kazan Higher Military Tank Command School, then the M.V. Frunze Military Academy. He successively passed all positions from platoon commander to chief of staff of the district training center for the training of junior specialists. Kovylin served in the regions of the Urals, the Volga region, and Tajikistan.
He was awarded the Medal of the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, II degree, the Suvorov Medal, as well as awards of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation.
The Russian military base deployed in Tajikistan is subordinate to the Central Military District. It 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.
