The Russian Defense Ministry has frozen financing of the 201st military base located in Tajikistan during the talks on prolongation of the base’s presence after 2014, head of the General Staff Nikolai Makarov said, Interfax reports.
General-Colonel Vladimir Chirkin, Commander of the Russian Ground Forces, said that Tajikistan has over 20 demands that keep changing.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev visited Tajikistan in September 2011. The sides agreed to sign a prolongation document for 49 years. But the Tajik Foreign Ministry said that none of the sides was boosting the talks, so the document could be signed later.
The 201st Russian military base has over 6,000 troops in Dushanbe, Kulyab and Kurgan-Tyub. It is the largest Russian ground base abroad.
