MOSCOW. April 12 (Interfax) - The threat of terrorism emanating from Afghanistan is very serious, Russian President Vladimir Putin said, adding that he hoped Russia would not have to use its troops stationed in Tajikistan in dealing with this problem.
"It is a very dangerous track for us all. And we already know situations, very tragic situations, in which militants broke out of Afghanistan's territory. I am not even talking about drug trafficking and infiltration of some criminal elements now," Putin said in an interview with the Mir inter-state television and radio company.
Putin recalled a situation that occurred several years ago, when large militant groups broke into Kyrgyzstan and "armed forces had to be used to fight those militant units."
"We are perfectly aware of how dangerous that is to the Russian Federation. It stands to reason that our 201st Military Base is stationed and is functioning in Tajikistan," Putin said.
"The first threat is, of course, the terrorism threat, it's coming from Afghanistan, it's a very, very serious thing," he said.
"We really hope that we will never have to use our armed forces, including our units from the 201st base in Tajikistan," Putin said.