President Emomali Rahmon held a phone call with Russian leader Vladimir Putin yesterday following an extraordinary online session of the Collective Security Treaty Organization Collective Security Council.

The Kremlin says the parties discussed issues concerning the developments in Kazakhstan. They reportedly noted the timely and effective assistance the CSTO provided at the request of the authorities of Kazakhstan.

Putin and Rahmon also discussed Afghanistan, in particular, the situation along Tajikistan’s common border with Afghanistan border, the Kremlin added.

The Tajik president’s official website says that during the conversation, the heads of the two countries discussed the situation on the Tajik-Afghan border and exchanged views on the development of the situation in Afghanistan.

The parties reportedly reached an agreement to continue contacts on these issues at various levels, and the importance of further building up cooperation between the parties in the security sphere was noted.

Meanwhile, TASS reports that speaking at the extraordinary online session of the CSTO Collective Security Council, Emomali Rahmon noted yesterday that radical religious ideology is one of the main instruments of CSTO member nation’s enemies.

"The extremely destructive ideology of religious radicalism is being actively promoted in our countries, and it became one of the main weapons in our adversaries’ hands," the Tajik leader was cited as saying.    

According to Rahmon, this increases the religious extremist potential and creates a threat of destabilization within the CSTO member states.

He noted that many groups outlawed in Tajikistan display "especially aggressive activity," adding that many comprise the backbone of the Islamic State (IS) terror group. 

"We in Tajikistan actively combat the propaganda and sabotage of outlawed organizations’ emissaries," he underscored.