Russian troops have already trained over 6,000 Tajik military personnel, Col. Gen. Alexander Lapin, the commander of Russia's Central Military District, said on Monday.
"We are actively working to train military personnel for the Tajik army. This year, Russian instructors have completed the training of about 1,000 junior specialists of the national armed forces. In total, more than 6,000 Tajik servicemen have already been trained to date," Lapin told reporters.
This summer, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu had identified the main tasks to repel terrorist threats emerging from Afghanistan, including joint exercises within the framework of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO); additional gratuitous supplies of Russian weapons and equipment for the Tajik army; training of qualified local personnel in Russia's military universities and at the 201st Russian military base in Tajikistan; boosting of the combat capability of the base; as well as and clarifying strategies to jointly repel possible infiltration of terrorists, Lapin recalled.
Nine international joint drills of the military contingents of the CSTO member states and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization have already been conducted, he said. To further implement tasks set by the defense ministry, Russia's Tatarstan will host another joint exercise, dabbed Unbreakable Brotherhood 2021, with CSTO Collective Peacekeeping Forces from Monday through Friday, Lapin added. Military contingents of six countries will take part in the drills due to be conducted amid the deteriorated security situation in Afghanistan governed by the Taliban (a terrorist group, banned in Russia), he elaborated.
The 201st military base stationed in two Tajik cities of Dushanbe and Bokhtar is Russia's largest military facility outside the country. (ANI/Sputnik)
( With inputs from ANI )
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