# Tajikistan > [!info] Gateway page > One of the fifteen former Soviet republics compared at [[Post-Soviet States]]. **Tajikistan** is the former Soviet republic with the least room to manoeuvre: Russia's largest foreign military garrison on its soil, a long border with Taliban-ruled Afghanistan, an economy that depends on migrant workers in Russia, and a creditor relationship with China. It is also the country that paid most heavily for the [[Crocus City Hall Attack]]. | Item | Detail | |---|---| | Independence | 9 September 1991 | | Head of state | President Emomali Rahmon | | Head of government | Prime Minister Kokhir Rasulzoda *[2026 incumbency single-sourced]* | | Russia-led blocs | [[Collective Security Treaty Organization]] · CIS — not in the [[Eurasian Economic Union]] | | Other blocs | [[Shanghai Cooperation Organisation]] | | Russian forces | 201st Military Base — about 7,000 troops, Russia's largest garrison abroad, with basing extended to 2042 | | Population | About 10.8 million (July 2026) *[single-sourced]* | ## After Crocus Tajik nationals were charged over the 22 March 2024 attack on Crocus City Hall outside Moscow, and the Russian state's response fell on Central Asian migrants as a class. In the first half of 2025 Russian deportations rose about 17% year on year and residence permits fell by more than 30%; in October 2025 Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said 770,000 migrants had been ordered to leave. For a country that exports labour to Russia, the crackdown was a direct economic shock delivered by its own treaty ally. ## The southern border On 27 November 2025 an attack from Afghanistan killed Chinese workers at a Chinese–Tajik gold mine. Reuters then reported talks on Russian border patrols under the CSTO; Dushanbe called the report fabricated and Reuters withdrew it. In February 2026 the CSTO sent weapons for the Afghan border *[single-sourced]*. The [[Taliban]] border is the reason Russia's security guarantee still matters here when it has lapsed in [[Armenia]]. ## Sanctions The EU's 19th package (October 2025) listed three Tajik banks for helping Russia evade sanctions; the 20th (April 2026) delisted them after Dushanbe closed the loopholes — a rare case of a Central Asian state choosing compliance over the conduit trade that [[Kyrgyzstan]] took. ## Where it stands with Moscow Dependent — militarily on Russia, financially increasingly on [[China]], which is its largest trade partner and holds over half its foreign debt *[single-sourced]*. ## See Also - [[Post-Soviet States]] — all fifteen former republics compared - [[Crocus City Hall Attack]] - [[Collective Security Treaty Organization]] - [[Kyrgyzstan]]