DUSHANBE, April 4, 212, Asia-Plus  -- The first consignment of Russian humanitarian aid has been airlifted to Tajikistan.  

A Russian Emergencies Ministry’s transport plane IL-76 shipped the first consignment of humanitarian aid to Tajikistan yesterday afternoon.

Yevgeniy Yershov, the deputy director of the department for international cooperation of the Russian Emergencies Ministry, told reporters that the first consignment (totaling some 38 tons) included heating devices, mobile generators, tents, metallic tableware and tinned goods.

Two other planes with humanitarian aid on board will arrive in Dushanbe today afternoon and tomorrow.  In all, the planes will ship 113 tons of humanitarian aid to Tajikistan.

We will recall that Russia is providing urgent humanitarian aid to Tajikistan to help to help tackle the aftermath of a hard winter.

An official website of the Russian government said on March 30 that Dushanbe has requested help from Moscow.  Tajik President Emomali Rahmon reportedly had a telephone conversation with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin last Friday.  A hard humanitarian situation that emerged in Tajikistan as a result of the unusually cold and long winter was the focus of the conversation.  “Emomali Rahmon has requested help from Russia,” the source said.

It is to be noted that according to some source, Tajikistan''s agrarian sector has reportedly suffered serious losses as a result of the hard winter.