2024-05-04 08:22:27
The announcement comes after several days of tension over new checks on Tajiks in Russia.
After March 22 Russia has stepped up checks after an attack at Moscow’s Crocus City Hall concert hall that killed 145 people, a measure Tajikistan says is targeting its own citizens. With hundreds of Tajiks stranded at Russian airports due to new security measures, Tajikistan has advised its citizens to refrain from traveling to the country.
“The hope was expressed that the recently intensified attempts by certain forces to artificially escalate the situation related to labor migrants arriving in Russia, including Tajikistan, will be simultaneously suppressed,” the Kremlin statement said. It added that recent “events will not harm the time-tested brotherly relations between the peoples of the two countries.”
E. Rahmon’s office said that the two leaders “agreed to give instructions to the relevant departments of both sides to take up work in this direction.”
They also agreed to “closely cooperate” in the fight against terrorism and extremism, the statement added.
Russia has detained four gunmen, all of whom are citizens of Tajikistan, following the Crocus City Hall attack claimed by the Islamic State (IS). Some of the suspects showed signs of torture when they first appeared in court. Tajikistan protested this.
Hundreds of thousands of Tajiks live in Russia, many of them work in low-skilled jobs and send their wages to their homeland.
The call between Putin and Rahmon came three days after the foreign ministers of both countries issued statements that revealed a rift between the two sides on migration issues.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told his Tajik counterpart Sirojiddin Muhriddin that “more thorough checks” were needed after the attack in Moscow. The measures are “temporary” and “are not directed against a specific nation or religion,” he added.
S. Muhriddin, for his part, claimed that this “does not correspond to the real situation”. He said that “negative actions are being taken exclusively against citizens of Tajikistan.” Accusing Russia of violating the rights and freedoms of Tajiks, he called on Moscow to respect “core bilateral” agreements.
2024-05-04 08:22:27