Russia and Tajikistan are setting up a joint air defense system, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said at talks with the republic’s military chief Sherali Mirzo in Dushanbe on Tuesday.
‘To improve the reliability of state border protection in the airspace, we have prepared a draft agreement on the creation of a joint regional air defense system of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Tajikistan. I suggest that the agreement be signed at the end of the meeting’, Shoigu said.
Threats from Afghanistan
The situation in Afghanistan is becoming worse, and Russia and Tajikistan are practicing planning to jointly repel possible threats from this direction, Shoigu reported.
‘Against the backdrop of the deteriorating situation in neighboring Afghanistan, we are planning for a joint response to possible threats and are practicing practical interaction through exercises’, he said.
Shoigu reminded that joint tactical exercises of units of the 201st Russian military base stationed in the territory of the republic and the Armed Forces of Tajikistan took place last week.
The Russian Defense Minister highlighted that Russia and Tajikistan shared common tasks to ensure security and preserve stability in the Central Asian region. ‘With this in mind, we are providing support to the Tajik side. We are paying special attention to bilateral defense cooperation, as well as the functioning of the 201st Russian military base’, he said.
Students in military schools
Russia is ready to increase the number of Tajik servicemen for training at military universities, and is also waiting for the republic’s military contingent at the West-2021 strategic maneuvers, the Russian Defense Minister continued.
‘A number of CSTO exercises have been planned, and in September we are expecting the Tajik military contingent for the joint West-2021 strategic exercise’, Shoigu said.
He noted that the Russian Federation was supplying Russian arms and equipment to consolidate the combat capabilities of the republic’s armed forces, and was training qualified personnel for the Tajik army at Russian military universities on a free-of-charge basis.
‘We are currently training over five hundred of your military personnel, and up to a thousand junior specialists are trained annually at the 201st Russian military base. We are ready to increase the number both of students and specialties’, the Minister said.
Shoigu stressed that he was genuinely happy to meet and to have the opportunity to discuss topical issues of defense cooperation between the two countries.
He also personally invited representatives of Tajikistan’s Defense Ministry to the ninth Moscow International Security Conference, the International Military-Technical Forum and the Army International Games. The talks then continued without the press.
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Based on materials from TASS