DUSHANBE, July 6, 2012, Asia-Plus — Tajikistan is preparing its own version of the agreement on the presence of Russian military base on the Tajik territory, Tajik Minister of Defense Sherali Khairulloyev said yesterday at a joint news conference with counterparts from the CIS nations after the bilateral meeting with Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov, Itar Tass reported.
“We are preparing our own version (of contract) and we will send it for consideration to Russia. Our working groups will be looking for common ground on each item of the contract. Nobody receives our version and nobody has read the Russian version,” Khairulloyev said.
“You should have read it,” Serdyukov said.
Tajik defense minister did not comment on the statements made by the Chief of the General Staff Nikolai Makarov, and Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Ground Forces Vladimir Chirkin, who criticized the position of Dushanbe on the preparation of an agreement on further presence of the 201st Russian military base in Tajikistan. He just said that a government commission (for the preparation of the contract), headed by the prime minister had been set up. Khairulloyev is also member of this commission.
We will recall that Army General Nikolai Makarov, Chief of the General Chief Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, told Interfax on July 3 that the Ministry of Defense of Russia will not allocate funds for the development of Russia’s military base in Tajikistan while an uneasy negotiating process on issues related to deployment of the base in Tajikistan after 2014 is going on. “The negotiations are making difficult progress, but we hope common sense will prevail,” Makarov told Interfax in an interview.
In a report released at the session of the Federation Council (Russia’s upper house of parliament), Russian Ground Forces commander, Colonel-General Vladimir Chirkin, revealed on June 26 that the agreement extending the presence of Russia’s military base in Tajikistan for another 49 years is under threat. “There are many problems which may put under threat the signing of the agreement on extension of the presence of Russia”s military base in Tajikistan,” Chirkin said, adding that Tajikistan proposed to cut the presence of the Russian military base to 10 years. “In connection with the predicted aggravation of interstate contradictions in the field of use of land and power-and-water resources and lands in Central Asia local conflicts with participation of Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan may arise,” the Russian general said.
A statement released by the Ministry of Defense of Tajikistan on July 1 says that politically incorrect statement made by General Chirkin that predicts the possibility of appearance of local conflicts in Central Asia will scarcely promote the establishment of constructive and good-neighborly relations between the countries of the region.
Russian Vice-Premier in charge of defense and space industry, Dmitry Rogozin, considers that NATO presence in Central Asia impacts Tajikistan-Russia talks on military base. “After withdrawal of the NATO forces from Afghanistan, I hope it will happen quite soon, the situation will change substantially,” Rogozin told RIA Novosti in an interview on July 5. “NATO forces are not in Afghanistan permanently, while Russia will be eternal partner of these countries [Tajikistan and Uzbekistan], and when the situation is bad for security of these countries, they will remember both Russia and the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO).”
As it had been reported earlier, Tajik Foreign Minister told reporters in Dushanbe on July 18, 2011 that Tajik territory cannot be used by a foreign military free of charge. Some Russian media source reported last year that Tajik Foreign Minister Hamrokhon Zarifi suggested that Russia should pay 300 million annually and they deemed this suggestion “unrealistic.”
Under the current 10-year lease signed in 2004, Russia gets exclusive use of three military bases and joint use of an air base free of charge. During their talks in Dushanbe on September 2, 2011, Tajik President Emomali Rahmon and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev agreed to sign a formal agreement extending the presence of Russia”s 201st Division in Tajikistan for another 49 years.
The presence of Russian troops in Tajikistan reportedly accounts for Russia”s second-largest military contingent outside its own territory — following only the 13,000-strong Black Sea Fleet in the Ukrainian city of Sevastopol.
