Russia to revamp strategic base in Tajikistan to counter Taliban's threat from Afghanistan

Russia today announced that its military base in Tajikistan will be fully re-equipped with modern communications equipment by the end of the year.

The announcement came as member states of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO), including Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Armenia and hosts Tajikistan - completed the third day of their massive military exercise on Afghanistan's borders.

Echelon-2021, Search-2021 and Interaction-2021 special military exercises are being held at the Harb-Maidon and Momirak training grounds in the Khatlon region - just 20 kilometers from the Tajik-Afghan border.

Moscow has sent a large contingent from its 201st military base stationed in two Tajik cities - capital Dushanbe and Bokhtar - for the military exercises which are being conducted by the Central Asian countries to "jointly counter" the security threats emanating from the territory of Afghanistan after the return of Taliban.


The 201st military base is the largest military facility of Russia, located beyond its borders. According to an agreement signed in October 2012, the formation will be in Tajikistan until 2042.

As over 4000 armed forces personnel continue to train together on the southern borders, "thwarting the plans of the militants" and destroying the "illegal armed formations" that have "invaded the territory of a CSTO member state", Russia declared Wednesday that it will equip its military base in the country with the state-of-the-art military communications equipment.

"By the end of this year, we will complete equipping the communications units of the Russian military base in Tajikistan with modern samples of special equipment," said Major General Gennady Tuchin, head of the communications department of Russia's Central Military District command.


Tuchin chose October 20 to announce the development as it is celebrated as 'Day of the Military Signal Officer' by the Signal troops of Russia,

The base in Dushanbe is expected to get the latest versions of special military equipment, including the R-149MA command and control vehicles, the R-419LM1 radio relay stations, the P-243 complex communications equipment and the R-441LM satellite communications station.

A feature of the use of new machines will be the ability to issue instructions and control the execution in real time through the 'video eye' system associated with reconnaissance and fire contours by means of the 'Strelets' complex.


According to the Russian Defence Ministry, the unified command and staff vehicle R-149MA1 is designed to provide control and communication to brigade-level officials in the parking lot and on the move.

"The UKShM R-149MA1 can also be used in the operational echelon when it is used by officials at the forward command posts of large formations to ensure command and control of formations and units in accordance with the adopted tactics of using troops," it says.

As reported by IndiaNarrative.com on Tuesday, Moscow had transported six Tiger-M armoured vehicles - which are equipped with the latest Arbalet-DM remote-controlled weapon station - to Dushanbe from its special-purpose brigade stationed in the Samara region for the ongoing military exercise.


Meanwhile, on Day 3 of their Echelon-2021 special exercise at Harb-Maidon close to the border with Afghanistan, the CSTO military contingents carried out a massive refueling of armoured vehicles on Wednesday.

The servicemen made a multi-kilometer march to the training ground to deliver fuel and lubricants to units performing combat training missions to destroy a simulated enemy.

Support divisions deployed about 30 dispensing hoses for automobile refueling and transportation vehicles. For the first time in the exercise, the newest ATZ-12-10-63501 refueling tanker based on the Mustang KamAZ vehicle was used, which allows you to simultaneously refuel 10 units of various equipment.


"During the exercise, the CSTO collective forces worked out the tasks of joint refueling of equipment; in total, more than 30 tons of fuel were pumped from mobile tanks into T-72 tanks, BTR-82A armoured personnel carriers, 2S1 self-propelled howitzers, and lightly armored MT-LB multipurpose tractors," the press service of the Central Military District command reported.

This method, it said, made it possible to reduce the time spent by the unit in the area of mass dispensing of fuel by more than two times - IANS