DUSHANBE, Tajikistan, Sept. 2 (UPI) -- Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, visiting Tajikistan, has been holding discussions with Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon.
Among the topics under discussion is Russia extending its lease on Tajikistan's Kulob military base.
Talks to extend the lease beyond 2014 were held at the working-group level last month, but Tajikistan is calling for Russia to pay rent for the facility, RIA Novosti reported Friday.
Despite disagreements over payments, Medvedev and Rakhmon agreed to prepare in early 2012 an agreement extending Russia's lease of the military base in Tajikistan by 49 years. Medvedev said, "We agreed to instruct our departments that a new forward-looking agreement for 49 years should be prepared for signing in the first quarter of the next year."
Besides Kulob, Russian troops are serving at three Russian military facilities in the capital Dushanbe and in the southwestern city of Qurgonteppa, 7,000 troops in all, representing Russia's largest deployment outside the country.
