Air units of Russia’s Central Military District re-deployed to Tajikistan

An echelon of Mi-8 multirole transport helicopters, Mi-24 attack helicopters, and Forpost unmanned combat aerial vehicle has been sent to Tajikistan from the Central Military District (CMD) of the Russian Federation today, on May 18, to organize cooperative training of the country’s armed forces and the 201st military base as part of the ongoing inspections of the CSTO forces.

The training includes operational and training flights against illegal armed groups in mountainous areas, reconnaissance and searching, tactical airborne assault, etc.

“The goal of the training is development of common approaches to the counteraction of illegal military groups, development of combined tactical actions, organization of command, control and communications system,” says Yaroslav Roshchupkin, District Assistant Commander of CMD.

EADaily reported earlier that CSTO Collective Forces of Rapid Reaction (CFRR) were training for an active phase of surprise inspections of combat efficiency in Tajikistan. The leadership headquarter listened to the suggestion of CFRR Commander, Major General Mirali Rahmatov, on how to repel the imaginary enemy.

The training involved over 2500 militaries, nearly 200 weapon units, nearly 20 combat aircrafts and helicopters, and 30 military-transport aircrafts.

Earlier, on May 15, a representative of the Tajikistan special services reported that the Taliban took control over nearly 80% of Badakhshan, an Afghan province bordering with Tajikistan.  Some groups of terrorists have come as close as several kilometers to the border of Tajikistan, which cannot but arouse concern of Dushanbe, the source reported. According to the intelligence reports, those groups of radicals were once in the so-called tribal zone of Pakistan, North Waziristan, and the Pakistani army forcefully displaced them to Afghanistan.