Sergei Shoigu: The 201st base will provide military assistance to Tajikistan if its security is threatened

Russia’s 201st base will provide military assistance to the Republic of Tajikistan if the country’s security is threatened by the developments in neighbouring Afghanistan, RIA Novosti quotes Sergei Shoigu, Minister of Defence of the Russian Federation.
“Of course we follow the events on the border [between the Republic of Tajikistan and the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan] and militants’ attempts to move into Tajikistan’s territory.
That is why I can definitely say that if our ally, a member of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, is threatened, the Russian Federation will certainly react, primarily through the 201st base located in Tajikistan,” Mr Shoigu told reporters.
“The 201st base is here precisely for the purpose of maintaining peace and stability in this region of one of the CSTO Members in Central Asia,” the defence minister stressed.
He said that the Russian military had been registering active movements of the IS* (a terrorist organization banned in Russia) fighters into the territory of Afghanistan from various countries, including Syria and Libya.
“We certainly hope that Afghanistan will achieve some kind of consensus and inter-ethnic reconciliation. But at the same time, we see that ISIS* [banned in the Russian Federation] units actively move there from various regions, including Syria and Libya. Moreover, some of these movements are very well organized,” Mr Shoigu said.
“Russia arranged for additional supplies of free weapons and equipment to reinforce the Republic of Tajikistan’s army,” the Regnum news agency quotes Sergei Shoigu. On July 28 in Dushanbe, the Russian Defence Minister announced, in addition to the free supply of weapons and equipment to Tajikistan’s army, joint exercises to be held both bilaterally and within the CSTO.