Russia opened a new military base in Tajikistan Sunday, the second in Central Asia since the Soviet collapse in 1991, the ITAR-TASS news agency reported.

Russian President Vladimir Putin raised a Russian flag at the base, saying that "the military base in Tajikistan, along with the air base in Kyrgyzstan, will be a reliable element in the united system of collective security in the region."

The forces there would create conditions for neutralizing terrorist and extremist attacks across the entire former Soviet Union, said Putin.

On Saturday, Putin and his Tajik counterpart Emomali Rakhmonov signed a protocol on the commencement of a Russian military base in the Central Asian country.

Russia's 5,000-strong 201st Motorized Rifle Division, now deployed near Dushanbe, capital of Tajikistan, after retreating from Afghanistan in 1989, will station in the new military base.

As part of the deal, Russia will write off 330 million US dollars of Tajik debts and pledge investments totaling 2 billion dollars over the next years.

Putin, who arrived in Dushanbe earlier Saturday, will on Mondayattend a summit of the Central Asian Cooperation Organization, which groups Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

Source: Xinhua