On November 8th, 2011, the court in Tajikistan sentenced two pilots of Rolkan Investemnts Ltd, a citizen of Russia Vladimir Sadovnichey and a citizen of Estonia Aleksey Rudenko to 8.5 years each in jail and confiscated two airplanes An-72, which belonged to the air company. The pilots were accused of illegal traffic, border violations and the violation of international flights rules. The Russian authorities expressed dissatisfaction at the sentence and talked about taking counter measures. After this, reports on the fact that labor migrants from Tajikistan have problems with getting permission to work in the Russian Federation appeared. Last Friday the press secretary of the FMS of Russia Zalina Kornilova said that almost 300 citizens of Tajikistan were arrested and deportated.
At the press conference in Interfax ,representatives of Tajik labor migrants in Russia and non-governmental organizations commented on the situation.
Heydar Dzhemal, the head of the Islamic Committee of Russia, called the situation nonsense, but stated that the events correlate with Nazisation of Russia, which is favorable for opponents of the united Eurasian space and Tajikistan’s joining the Customs Union.
The head of Tajik Diaspora of Russia, Karomat Sharipov, expressed his worry that “Tajiks will go to mountains.” “If million Tajiks return to Tajikistan, their families will starve, no flour, no bread, and they will go to mountains to Taliban, as they will have to search for a piece of bread for their families. There will be no border between Tajikistan and Afghanistan, between Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, and the border will move close to Russia,” Sharipov forecasted. He reminded that Tajikistan was first out of the Soviet republics, which sent its army to the Afghan war of 1979.
Abdul Dovlatov, the head of the Tajiks Council of Russia, said that despite all mechanisms, which the chief sanitary officer of Russia and the Federal Migration Service have, illegal migrants, locus of tuberculosis, AIDS and other diseases are being revealed very slowly. He also rejected statements by Gennady Onischenko that there are many HIV positive people among Tajiks. According to the World Health Organization, tuberculosis is more spread among migrants from Kazakhstan, Moldavia and Uzbekistan, while number of HIV positive cases in Tajikistan is in 14 times less than in the RF. Abdul Dovlatov reminded that 94% population of Tjikistan supports Russian policy and views the country positively.
Alexander Sokolov, the member of the Public Chamber of Russia, thinks that the developments can lead to growth of criminal cases in Tajikistan. He considers that the situation is aimed against Tajikistan and against Russia as well. In his speech Sokolov compares Tajikophobia and growing xenophobia in Russia. He thinks that in the future the situation will shift from external to internal, if xenophobia touches upon residents of the Volga region.
The TV-journalist Maxim Shevchenko agreed with the participants and urged to freeing the pilots. “Anti-Tajik campaign is working for those, who want to destroy the idea of the Eurasian project, proposed by the Premier of Russia, the Customs Union, withdraw Tajikistan form the CSTO and subdue it by the NATO, which acts in the territory of Afghanistan,” Shevchenko said.
VK
