On Sunday Emomali Rahmon won the presidential elections in Tadzhikistan with the kind of high numbers that only a de facto dictatorship can achieve. It might therefore be assumed that his main protector, President Putin, will ensure that Tadzhikistan remains securely within the Russian security orbit. Certainly if the Russians are to replace the Americans as the dominant foreign presence in neighbouring Afghanistan, as they have every intention of doing, the Russians will have to ensure that Tadzhikistan remains a protectorate.

But doubts are emerging – among the more hardline elements in Moscow – as to whether Russia has shown enough serious commitment to sustaining the status quo in this troublesome part of the world. Resurgent Islam is a perennial problem. Not just the whiff of narcotics drifts across the Afghan frontier. And the Chinese are increasingly buying their way in. On their view now is not the time to ease up on vigilance; rather the reverse.

See Vzglyad.ru

Исламисты и Китай вытесняют Россию из Таджикистана 

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12 октября 2020, 14:58 Фото: Валерий Шарифулин/ТАСС Текст: Наталья Макарова, Иван Абакумов, Ирина Яровая