Russia, Tajikstan agree on Okno

http://www.tass.ru/eng/level2.html?N...9298&PageNum=0

Russia hands over to Tajikistan excessive movables of Russian base

24.06.2005, 15.03

DUSHANBE, June 24 (Itar-Tass) - Defence ministers of Russia and
Tajikistan Sergei Ivanov and Sherali Khairulloyev signed an act of
handing over excessive movables of the Russian military base to the
Tajik side.

"At present, the Russian military base in Tajikistan has this status
de facto. It will be granted this status de jure in September 2005,"
a source in the Russian military delegation that accompanies the
defence minister told Itar-Tass.

"This document as the earlier signed document allows now to outline
long-term plans of military construction of the Russian military base
and the electro-optical complex Nurek," the Russian defence minister
said commenting on the documents that were signed on Friday.

A package of documents on the transformation of the Russian 201st
motorized division that is deployed in Dushanbe in a military base was
signed in October 2004 during Russian President Vladimir Putin's
visit in Tajikistan.

The Tajik parliament ratified unanimously all five agreements in
January 2005, including agreements on the staff and the organizational
structure of the Russian military base in Tajikistan, and on transfer
to Russia of the electro-optical space surveillance complex Nurek and
its operation.

The electro-optical complex that is situated in the highlands above the
Nurek reservoir was built more than 20 years ago. After the breakup of
the Soviet Union Russia and Tajikistan negotiated its status, and now
Nurek became Russian property.

The electro-optical complex Nurek (Window)[ Okno ] has been on combat
duty since March 16, 2004. The complex is tracing military spacecraft
that handle tasks of navigation, communications and the spotting of
launches of ballistic missiles. The complex is also monitoring the
state of the Russian orbital group that has about 100 spacecraft.

"Though this complex is the most modern and has no equals in the
world, we should always think about the future and look into the next
decades," Ivanov pointed out. The Russian minister noted that this
unique defense complex "have big, good and very long prospects."

According to him, "the fact that Russian President Vladimir Putin
awarded recently a state prize to our scientists and the military who
upgraded this complex to the level that is unparallel in the world
testifies to this."

"This complex will operate for a long time for security of Russia and
Tajikistan," Ivanov indicated.