A tactical exercise involving a total of more than 3,500 servicemen will be conducted for Tajik and Russian servicemen in Tajikistan next week.

Citing the Commander of the Russian Central Military District, Colonel-General Alexander Lapin, the Central Military District press center says a joint five-day tactical exercise will be conducted for Tajik and Russian servicemen at three training grounds in Tajikistan from April 19-25.             

The phases of the exercise that will involve a total of more than 3,500 servicemen, including about 2,500 servicemen of the Russian military base deployed in Tajikistan as well as ground attack aircraft SU-25, combat helicopters, military transport helicopters, tanks T-72, armored vehicles BTR-82A, upgraded combat vehicles BMP-2M, artillery and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), will be held at the Harb-Maidon, Momirak and Sambuli training grounds.

The purpose of the exercise is reportedly to rehearse coordination and interaction in conducting joint combat missions.    

Recall, the Chief of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) Joint Staff, Colonel-General Anatoly Sidorov, told reporters in Moscow on February 25 that four joint exercises for military personnel of the CSTO member nations are expected to be conducted in Tajikistan this year.   

This is due to threats along the border with Afghanistan, the Russian high-ranking military official said following a video conference, in which representatives of defense departments and the media of the CSTO member states participated.

The conference was reportedly dedicated to the results of joint training of command and control bodies and formations of forces and means of the CSTO collective security system for 2020 and tasks for 2021.

The CSTO Joint Staff chief, in particular, assessed the military and political situation in the CSTO area of responsibility (Eastern European, Caucasian and Central Asian regions), spoke about the main results of activities in 2020 and the tasks of command and control bodies and formations of forces and means of the collective security in the year of the rotating chairmanship of Tajikistan in the Organization.

The general also spoke about what the four planned exercises in Tajikistan are connected with.  According to him, the increased attention to this territory is associated with the accumulation of militants of terrorist organizations – Taliban and Islamic State (IS) -- in Afghan territories bordering Tajikistan and Turkmenistan. 

The SCTO military personnel will rehearse coordination and interaction in combat missions to prevent attempts by militants of international terrorist organizations to infiltrate in territories of the CSTO member nations, the general said.

Sidorov noted that the number of Taliban militants deployed in Afghan areas bordering Tajikistan and Turkmenistan is about 15,000 people, while a total number of Taliban militants is up to 70,000 people. 

Four military exercises, namely an operational-strategic exercise dubbed “Combat Brotherhood-2021”, a special exercise for military reconnaissance units dubbed “Search-2021”, an exercise for logistics forces dubbed “Echelon-2021”, and an exercise for the CSTO rapid response forces dubbed “Interaction-2021”, will take place in Tajikistan this year. 

Besides, the Organization will conduct a joint business game in 2021 under the leadership of the CSTO secretary-general.

Recall, the CSTO Secretary-General Stanislav Zas paid a working visit to Dushanbe recently.  On February 18, he held talks with President Emomali Rahmon to discuss regional security issues.

The Chairman of the State Committee for National Security of Tajikistan (SCNS), Saimumin Yatimov, on February 14 met in Kabul with high-ranking Afghan state officials to discuss bilateral security cooperation, and the situation along the Afghan-Tajik border.

Russia first established the 201st military base in Tajikistan in 2004 with a contingent of several thousand personnel from a motorized infantry division stationed in Tajikistan 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.