Tajikistan's President submits for parliamental ratification agreement on Russian military base

Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon submitted for ratification by the republican parliament (Majlisi Oli) an interstate agreement on the status and terms of deployment of the 201st Russian military base in the Central Asian republic on Wednesday, the Tajik presidential press service reported. The interstate agreement was signed on October 5, 2012 during an official visit of the Russian president in Dushanbe, Tajikistan’s capital. The 201st Russian military base was created in 2004 on the premises of the 201st division and numbers 7,000 officers and soldiers that is the largest Russian military contingent abroad. The military units of the military base are deployed in the Tajik capital of Dushanbe, the city of Kurgan-Tyube, southern Tajikistan, and Kulyab, eastern Tajikistan, where the Russian regiment was formed back in the 30s of the previous century. The term of deployment of the Russian military base in Tajikistan expires in 2014. In October 2012 the presidents of the countries signed an agreement extending the term of deployment of the Russian military base in Tajikistan until 2042. According to the agreements on consideration of the issues in package reached previously between the countries the Tajik president submitted for ratification in the republican parliament the Tajik-Russian agreement on the procedure of stay of Tajik citizens in Russia that was signed in the Russian capital of Moscow on February 8, 2013, the press service noted. Meanwhile, the Tajik government resolution signed on May 2, 2013 approved the agreement between the governments of Tajikistan and Russia on cooperation in oil supplies in the republic that was signed on February 6, 2013 in Moscow.