The Aini base, 15 kilometers east of Dushanbe, has been closed since 1980 but is scheduled to open by the end of 2006. The Russian planes are currently deployed at Dushanbe Airport.
Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said in December 2005: "Russia is interested in using the reconstructed air base to deploy the helicopters and squadrons of our Air Force, which are currently part of our military base in Tajikistan."
Indian media reported last week that the country's Air Force plans to deploy a fleet of its Soviet-designed MiG-29 Fulcrum bombers at the airbase, and that India's Border Roads Organization is building three hangars at Aini.
On Saturday, senior Tajik military official Lieutenant General Ramil Nadyrov refuted these reports, calling them "completely absurd."
The 201st motorized infantry division consists of three motorized infantry regiments, an artillery regiment, air defense regiment, and also separate armored, motorized, medical, engineer and signal battalions alongside other division logistics and support units.
The division operates an air squadron, comprising Mi-8 Hip and Mi-24 Hind helicopters. The base has 7,500 servicemen. As well as Dushanbe, military installations are located in Kuliab and Kurgantube in the south of the country and the eastern city of Nurek, where the Okno space-monitoring complex is based.
