July 18, 1994 - During a two-day visit to Tajikistan by Colonel-General Andrei Nikolaev, head of the Russian Federations border troops, an agreement between Tajikistan, Russia and Uzbekistan on protecting the southern borders of the CIS was signed, ITAR-TASS reported on 16 July. A second agreement, between Russia and Tajikistan, dealt with military shipments between the two countries. Details of the two agreements were not reported. When asked at a press conference about the situation on the Tajik-Afghan border, Nikolaev said that it was far from stable and in his view the conflict can only be settled politically.