Russia boosts arms supplies to Central Asia against threats

Russia has increased arms and military hardware supplies to Uzbekistan and Tajikistan amid recent developments in the region, Interfax news agency quoted Russian military chief of staff, Valery Gerasimov, as saying on Thursday, Reuters reported.

According to him, Russia has increased the supply of weapons to Central Asian countries to ward off possible terrorist threats.

Gerasimov, who was in Tashkent to attend joint Uzbek-Russian military drills near the Afghan border, provided no details such as what arms were being supplied.

Russia is also carrying out drills in Tajikistan, another former Soviet republic bordering Afghanistan, this week. For the Uzbek exercise, Moscow said on Thursday it would even deploy four strategic bombers.

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