Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold talks with his Tajik counterpart, Emomali Rahmon, in Dushanbe on June 28 as Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, launched more than four months ago, continues to raise concerns in Central Asia.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Moscow on June 27 that the talks will be held in a face-to-face format. He did not elaborate.
Putin's visit to the Tajik capital will take place three days after he told another ally, Belarus's authoritarian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka, that Moscow will supply Minsk with an Iskander-M mobile missile system with a range of up to 500 kilometers as the standoff between Russia and the West over the war in Ukraine escalates.
Russia, Belarus, and Tajikistan, along with Armenia, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan, are members of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO).
Earlier this month, President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev of Kazakhstan, attending an economic forum in Russia's second-largest city, St. Petersburg, pushed back against Moscow's narrative in the invasion of Ukraine, rejecting recognition for "quasi-states" like the Russia-backed-separatist-controlled territories of eastern Ukraine.
He also vowed that Kazakhstan wouldn't break international sanctions imposed against Russia over its actions in Ukraine.
Moscow has stationed about 7,000 troops from Russia’s 201st Motor Rifle Division at three facilities that are considered part of a Russian base in Tajikistan, a former Soviet republic.