Russia hands over military equipment and weapons worth $5 million to Tajikistan

AKIPRESS.COM - Russia handed over Tajikistan military equipment and weapons worth about 320 million rubles ($5 million), the Russian Defense Ministry said. The assistance included a radar station and armored reconnaissance and patrol vehicles, the statement said.
A handover ceremony was held in Dushanbe at the end of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) joint exercises Unbreakable Brotherhood-2019 that was carried out from Sept. 21 to 29 at the Harb-Maidon training ground in Tajikistan.
Russia sees Tajikistan as a key ally in Central Asia and the assistance is intended to help strengthen its defense potential as part of its armed forces modernization program, Russia's Central Military District Commander Alexander Lapin said at the ceremony.
Russia maintains troops at its military base in Tajikistan, near the Afghan border, as a bulwark against the threat of Islamist radicals and drug trafficking. The United States fields 13,000 troops in Afghanistan as part of a NATO-led support mission.
Russia's military said Saturday that it had sent a battalion of 30 launchers and other vehicles from central Russia to the base in Tajikistan to protect it from attacks. It said the S-300PS deployment also aims to provide air defense capabilities to the wider Central Asian region.