Article author:
Associated Press
Moscow (AP) — President Vladimir Putin has made his first public overseas trip since Russia sent troops to Ukraine, and the two former Soviet republics are likely to be friendly. And heading for the meeting.
Before the trip to Tajikistan and Turkmenistan starting on Tuesday, there were no expectations of significant progress. However, this visit gives Putin an opportunity to show that he is not isolated, despite widespread sanctions and accusations from the West for Ukrainian operations.
At the first stop in Tajikistan, Putin meets with authoritarian President Emomali Rahmon, who has been in office since 1994 and maintains a country close to Russia. It has become. Approximately 7,000 Russian troops, the largest overseas base in Moscow, are stationed in Tajikistan.
Putin's foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov said Monday that an important part of the meeting with Ramon improved security along the 1,357 km (843 miles) porous border with Afghanistan in Tajikistan. He said he would discuss measures to do so.
Tajikistan, which had a civil war in the 1990s when Islamic extremists killed as many as 100,000 people, is wary of Islamic extremists overflowing from Afghanistan. It is also the main route for smuggling heroin and opium from Afghanistan.
Russia is on a narrow path with Afghanistan — officially designated the ruling Taliban as a terrorist group, but the Taliban is also represented in Moscow and is one of the movement's officials. June forum where people were invited to the St. Petersburg International Economy.
The Kremlin said, "The new Afghan authorities will form an ethnically and politically balanced government and step up their actions to combat terrorist and drug threats. We are encouraging, "Ushakov said.
Putin on Wednesday is to be in Ashgabat, the capital of Turkmenistan. His purpose is to attend the summit of Caspian coastal countries, including Azerbaijan, Iran and Kazakhstan.
Kazakhstan's President Kassym-Jomart Tokaev firmly states that Kazakhstan is unaware of the two separatist Ukrainian regions that Russia has declared to be sovereign states while on stage with Putin. At that time, I frowned at the St. Petersburg Forum. ..
