Tajikistan and Russia started a joint five-day military drill near the Tajik Afghan border on April 3.
The Russian Central Military District (CMD) says the exercise, involving over 300 troops as well as tanks, artillery, radiation and chemical protection units and the CMD electronic warfare mobile group, is being conducted at the Harbmaidon training ground in the Tajik southern province of Khatlon.
Russia is reportedly represented in this exercise by servicemen of the Russian military base deployed in Tajikistan.
The CMD press center says the purpose of the exercise is to rehearse coordination and interaction in carrying out operations against illegal armed formations in mountains and deserts.
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.
