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Russia, Tajikistan to reach deal on military base soon

The agreement envisages prolongation of the Russian military base’s deployment on the Tajik territory for 49 years

MOSCOW, July 17 (Itar-Tass) — Russian and Tajik defence ministries will soon reach a mutually advantageous agreement on Russia’s 201st military base, the commander-in-chief of the Russian Ground Troops, Colonel-General Vladimir Chirkin, told reporters on Tuesday.

The agreement envisages prolongation of the Russian military base’s deployment on the Tajik territory for 49 years.

“The negotiating process is rather active. I think that soon we will achieve results that will be advantageous for both sides,” he said.

“The draft agreement proposes to keep effective the rules for the base’s deployment in Tajikistan on a free-of-charge basis,” he said.

The main task of the base is to ensure security in the Central Asian republic under support of the two countries’ armed forces. For this purpose Russia provides assistance to Tajikistan equipping it with modern arms and hardware.

Popovkin underlined that “in general, the Tajik side considers acceptable the draft agreement stipulating the presence of the 201st military base on the territory of the republic for 49 years.”

“Tajikistan’s authorities announced that they plan to maximally speed up the agreement’s coordination,” he said.

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