Tajikistan summons Russian ambassador over ‘negative attitude’ towards Tajik citizens

By Burc Eruygur

ISTANBUL (AA) - Tajikistan on Monday summoned Russia’s ambassador to convey its concerns over an “expressly negative attitude” towards Tajik citizens in Russia.

A statement by the Tajik Foreign Ministry on Telegram said that Russia’s Ambassador to Tajikistan Semyon Grigoryev was handed a note, expressing Dushanbe’s “serious concern” about “mass cases of expressly negative attitude” towards Tajik citizens in Russia.

The note also expressed concerns over the “widespread violation” of Tajik citizens’ rights and freedoms.

“The note states that this kind of action is applied exclusively to citizens of Tajikistan, which is fundamentally incompatible with the spirit and traditions of Tajik-Russian relations,” the statement further said.

A day earlier, the Tajik Foreign Ministry reported that about 1,000 of its citizens were held at Moscow’s Vnukovo International Airport “without providing proper sanitary conditions.”

The statement further said that difficult situations were also observed at Moscow’s Zhukovsky, Domodedovo and Sheremetyevo airports, where it said dozens of Tajik citizens are “being held in detention zones without proper conditions.”

On Saturday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova stated that thorough checks of those entering Russia are temporary and that they are undertaken regardless of nationality.

“The Russian side is taking exhaustive measures to resolve the current situation as quickly as possible,” she added.

Russian law enforcement agencies have been carrying out more thorough checks of foreign citizens entering the country after at least 144 people were killed and more than 550 injured when gunmen opened fire at the Crocus City Hall in the Moscow region last month.

Russia has charged four suspects with direct involvement in the attack and arrested seven others.