MOSCOW, Nov. 5 (Xinhuanet) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin Saturday signed a federal law on ratification of the bilateral agreement with Tajikistan on the Russian military base in the Central Asian country.

    The bill on the ratification of the agreement was passed in parliament's lower house, State Duma, on October 21, 2005 and was then approved by the upper house, the presidential press service was quoted by the Itar-Tass news agency as saying on Saturday.

    The agreement specifies the base makeup and the legal basis to form the organizational and staff structure of Russian units deployed in Tajikistan, said the Itar-Tass.

    The agreement is designed to facilitate peace and stability in the Central Asian region and Russia's long-term strategic interests, the press service was cited as saying.

    It also said that the agreement implementation will not requiread ditional spending from the federal budget. Enditem