Indignant Tajikistan

Not bad, Tajikistan turned out to be angry with the information that he had heard about himself from Russia during the week. It all started with the fact that Gennady Onishchenko, jointly with the Federal Drug Control Service and immigration authorities, decided to “take a walk” on trains running from Tajikistan to Moscow and back. Then the chief sanitary doctor of Russia caught the Tajik railway carriers saying that they keep their compositions in unsanitary condition. They and his subordinates inspected the cars of the Tajik train and found numerous violations of sanitary standards: from sleeping places to the dining car.

Specialists from the Federal Drug Control Service reported that lately the Dushanbe-Moscow and Kulyab-Moscow trains have become the most genuine courier trains for transporting narcotic drugs from the countries of Central Asia to Russia, which, not without the help of conductors, were equipped to transport opiates.

The migration services had a question that trains from Dushanbe annually bring thousands of illegal immigrants to Russia, who move from Tajikistan to the technical wagon boxes, trying to hide from checks at the customs.
Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Government Dmitry Rogozin also took part in inspections of the Tajik trains. Rogozin attended to the fact that Tajik citizens enter Russia with internal passports of Tajikistan, which does not allow identification, as expressed by the vice-premier.

After checking the Tajik trains, it was decided to create special points at which you would be selectively checking the passengers of these trains for the presence of drugs in the blood and urine. If this availability is determined, then such a person will be permanently denied entry into the territory of the Russian Federation. Such measures for many labor migrants from Tajikistan who enter Russia are effective and at the same time very frightening, because to lose the very possibility of entering Russia means losing the opportunity to earn money, since in Tajikistan itself the situation with the labor market is, to put it mildly, not brilliant, and Russia for many men is the only opportunity to feed the family.



The actions of the Russian inspection bodies caused outrage among the Tajik authorities. In particular, the main foreign ministry of Tajikistan said that a real information campaign had unfolded in Russia, fueled by the media, the purpose of which was to humiliate the dignity of the Republic of Tajikistan and discredit its authority.

The representative of the Tajik Foreign Ministry Abulfaiz Atoev said that the campaign was so powerful that Russia decided to use even federal officials in it. At the same time, Atoev emphasized that Russia, for some reason, draws attention exclusively to Tajik labor migrants, although, according to his data, the total number of guest workers in the Russian Federation is about 13 of millions of people.

The indignation of the Tajik authorities continued after the words that one of the main political showmen of Russia, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, gave out on television. The leader of the Liberal Democratic Party in the duel program, in particular, stated:


The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Tajikistan expressed its outrage at the words of Vladimir Zhirinovsky, calling them offensive and not in line with the spirit of the traditional friendship of Tajikistan and the Russian Federation.

In addition, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Tajikistan said that Dmitry Rogozin, who checked Tajik trains, distorts the facts, speaking of Tajik passports. The same Atoev remarked that Tajik citizens, it turns out, buy their tickets for the train to Russia, solely on foreign passports, because the train has to cross the territory of those states (Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan), with which Tajikistan still has there remains a visa regime.

On mere statements about insults to Tajikistan by Russian officials and media representatives, the matter did not end. Tajik parliamentarians decided to appeal to their Russian colleagues and protest against the tirades of the LDPR leader. Apparently, the surname Rakhmon mentioned by Zhirinovsky in combination with the phrase “hang in the center of Dushanbe” made the Tajik deputies react so violently.

Certainly, with “hanging” Rakhmon Vladimir Volfovich enough. But the Tajik deputies themselves need to be asked: why after the Russian-Tajik summit talks a few months ago, the ratification of the agreement on extending the terms of the Russian military base in Tajikistan has not yet been implemented? What prevents, if not the desire to receive from Russia more and more, not previously discussed "bonuses"? Zhirinovsky - he is not Tajik, and therefore, without unnecessary oriental ornateness, all the dots on “i”, revealing the Tajik wishes in a somewhat dubious form to have certain benefits from Russia.

After such incidents "on the carpet" in Dushanbe, Russian Ambassador Yuri Popov was summoned, who was handed a note with indignation about the political "arbitrariness" on the part of Russia towards Tajikistan.

In order to demonstrate their readiness to deliver a kind of retaliatory strike, in Tajikistan they decided to get rid of information boards and advertising more actively, first of all, in Russian. Now the authorities have announced the translation into Tajik language of even those words that were not in it at all. This campaign in Tajikistan has been called the elimination of “language deficiencies”, and they have already managed to bring to court the cases of several dozen businessmen who use non-Tajik words in the names of their companies. From now on, residents of Tajik cities, in order to have a bite, will have to go not into a bistro, but into a tezpaz, and from 10 Tajiks only one, judging by polls, was able to understand what kind of institution is hidden under this kind of signboard. And if the supervisory authorities find a cafe called “Zeus” in Dushanbe or Khujand or, even worse, “Ivan da Marya”, the cafe owners will be fined, even if the cafe offers dishes of Greek and Russian cuisines, respectively ... Apparently, “Zeus” will have to be renamed in “Rakhmon”, and “Ivan da Maryu” in “Mahmudjon and Shakhnozu” - so from the point of view of the Tajik authorities it will be more correct ... Such is the asymmetrical answer ...

But one should not forget that such a clear cooling of relations with Russia is taking place against the background of Tajikistan’s preparations for the presidential elections. The elections themselves will be held this fall, but, despite the fact that there is still enough time before the start of the election campaign, Emomali Rahmon has already announced that his potential rivals should not count on foreign patrons. At the same time, the current president of Tajikistan promised that the elections in the country would be held democratically. So, reassured ...

It is obvious that Mr. Rakhmon understands that if he continues to abuse bilateral relations between Russia and Tajikistan, then there may well be a presidential candidate in Tajikistan who will be more supported by the same Russia. That is why Rakhmon in advance and reports that the rivals do not count on "foreign support". And on whose support does the current president of Tajikistan count in such a case? Really on the national? So it seems that his real rating in the republic hardly reaches fifteen percent ... Although today the main thing is not the voting and not the rating, but the final result ...