Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic along a waterway. After Stalin's death in March 1953, Stalinabad, was renamed to "Dushanbe" on 10 November 1961 as part of the De-Stalinization program. In February 1990, tensions between the Tajiks and Armenians squared off in the republic's capital Dushanbe. 26 people died and 565 more were injured and the Soviet troops put down the riots. Both Yaqub Salimov, the Interior Minister and the youth activists were convicted for the participation in the riots. Later on 24 August 1990, Tajik SSR declared its sovereignty over Soviet laws. By 1991, Tajikistan participated in a referendum in March as part of the
Ministry of Defence (Tajikistan) weeks after the Soviet Union was officially dissolved and months after Tajikistan declared its independence. The ministry was under joint Tajik and Russian control under February 1993, when the armed forces were founded. It 1994, with assistance from the Russian 201st Military Base and Russian authorities in Moscow, the Tajik ministry became fully functional in leading the armed forces undee the directive of the President of Tajikistan. The Tajik Mobile Forces, also known as the Mobile Forces of the Ministry of Defense of Tajikistan is made up of 20,000 paratroopers of the armed forces of Tajikistan. The mobile forces is