Federal Border Guards Do Not Exclude Possibility Of Provocations On Tajik-Afghan Border

Chief of Staff of the Tajik force of the Russian Federal Frontier Service, Major-General Nikolai Zhilkin does not rule out the possibility of provocations on the Tajik-Afghan border initiated by Pakistani and Arab mercenaries. He made this statement in the course of a press conference in Dushanbe on Thursday. In his words, mercenaries including militants from the Islamic movement of Uzbekistan, may initiate provocations and try to infiltrate into the Tajik or Uzbek territories in order to destabilize the situation in the region. The situation on the Tajik-Afghan border is "stable and tense," the General added. He also reported that the Tajik force of the Federal Frontier Service would be reinforced.