Phone conversation between the foreign ministers of Tajikistan and Russia

On April 30, at the initiative of the Russian side, a telephone conversation took place between the foreign ministers of Tajikistan and Russia.

The foreign ministers of Tajikistan and Russia, Sirojiddin Muhriddin and Sergey Lavrov, exchanged views over the phone on current issues of bilateral cooperation. This was reported by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

During the conversation, Lavrov informed Sirojiddin Muhriddin that “the tragic events at ‘Crocus City Hall’ were the main reason for more thorough checks of foreign citizens arriving to us.”

Lavrov particularly emphasized “the temporary nature of the measures taken, their non-targeting against any specific nation or religion,” as well as the gradual normalization of the situation at the checkpoints.

At the same time, recently Tajik migrants complained that Russian border guards were denying them entry into Russia. Tajik migrants claimed that they traveled to Russia by car, but had been at the Russian border for several days, and Russian border guards were not allowing them to enter Russia. According to them, entry was being denied only to citizens of Tajikistan.

According to the stranded migrants, Russian border guards are only not allowing citizens of Tajikistan into the country, while citizens of Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and other countries do not face such problems.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Tajikistan also reported that 954 citizens of Tajikistan are being held in temporary detention at Vnukovo International Airport without proper sanitary conditions, and dozens more are stranded in detention areas at Zhukovsky, Domodedovo, and Sheremetyevo airports. The foreign ministry assessed the situation of Tajik citizens stranded in Moscow airports as “complex.”

The Tajik Ministry of Foreign Affairs emphasized that “such actions are applied exclusively against citizens of Tajikistan, which is fundamentally incompatible with the spirit and traditions of Tajik-Russian relations.”

Also, in light of these events, the Tajik Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned the Russian ambassador, Semen Grigoryev, and handed him a note of protest. The Tajik Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed serious concern over “mass cases of pronounced negative attitudes” towards Tajiks in Russia and violations of their rights and freedoms.