DUSHANBE, Dhu-AlHijjah 01, 1436, September 15, 2015, SPA -- President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday said Russia would help Tajikistan ensure stability after gun battles killed more than 20 people this month, Reuters reported. Putin, on a visit to the Tajik capital Dushanbe, was speaking after gunmen loyal to the country's ex-deputy defence minister clashed with government forces in circumstances that have not been fully explained. Putin said Moscow was worried about a possible spillover of violence from Afghanistan into Tajikistan and other Central Asian states. "Here in Tajikistan you are confronted with problems, with encroachments and attempts to rock the situation, and I would like to say that you can always count on our assistance and support," Putin told a summit of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (ODKB), a security body of six ex-Soviet states. --SPA 13:28 LOCAL TIME 10:28 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/w