The Russian 201st Military Base artillery units carry out live fire drills in Tajikistan. The exercise took place at the Sambuli mountain range, about 200 servicemen took part in it, more than 30 units of military equipment were involved. The 201st military base stationed in Tajikistan is Russia’s largest military facility outside its borders. The military base is located in the cities of Dushanbe and Bokhtar. The military base’s armament includes T-72 tanks, BTR-82A armored personnel carriers, Grad multiple launch rocket systems, Gvozdika and Akatsiya artillery systems.
According to the plan of practical actions, the enemy’s firing positions were detected by means of aerialreconnaissance and transmitted to the command post via digital communication channels. The gunners performed additional reconnaissance of the area and, hiding in the saddle of the mountains, took up closed firing positions. Artillery crews fired at targets from 122-mm guns with semi-direct aiming and various types of ammunition at a range of 5 to 15 kilometers, having completed more than 40 firing tasks with concentrated fire.
The Russian 201st Military Base was originally raised twice in World War II as part of the Soviet Union’s Red Army and is now part of the Russian Ground Forces. On 1 October 1945 the division completed its movement to Dushanbe in Tajikistan. In October 2004, it was renamed the 201st Military Base. In October 2012, it was signed an agreement extending the term of deployment of the Russian military base in Tajikistan until 2042. At one point during the civil war in Tajikistan, soldiers of the 201st Motor Rifle Division safely escorted staff of the US Embassy in Dushanbe to the airport for evacuation.
