Moscow Boosting Readiness But Not Manpower at Its Bases in Central Asia, Shoygu Says

Paul Goble

          Staunton, Aug. 24 – Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu told the Shanghai Cooperation Organization that Moscow is boosting the level of readiness at its military bases in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to counter any terrorist threat emanating from Afghanistan (stanradar.com/news/full/50325-rossija-povyshaet-boegotovnost-svoih-baz-v-kyrgyzstane-i-tadzhikistane.html).

            In the past, Moscow has typically dispatched more troops to areas it considers at risk. But at present, much of the Russian military is tied down in Ukraine, leaving fewer troops for exercises or for responses to threats such as the one Shoygu referred to at the SCO meeting in Tashkent.