Il Kirghizistan invita i cittadini a non recarsi in Russia

In response to the recent attacks in Russia, the article explains that the narrative has already been decided, and that the Russian establishment is targeting Central Asians.

Relevant excerpts:

>Kyrgyz Foreign Ministry official Bakyt Kadyrov told RFE/RL on March 25 that Russian authorities have been conducting anti-terrorist operations and are therefore increasing their checks of individuals arriving to and leaving Russia after the March 22 attack.

>”All [Kyrgyz] diaspora organizations in Russia are being informed about the situation. We do not have information about the length of the anti-terrorist operations [in Russia]. [Kyrgyz] citizens who are blacklisted or broke the law in the past are being barred from entering [Russia],” Kadyrov said, adding that hotlines at the ministry and the Kyrgyz Embassy in Russia are working around the clock.

>Russian human rights defender Valentina Chupik told RFE/RL on March 24 that “in the last 36 hours we received 1,018 complaints” from citizens of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan who said they were “illegally detained by police.”

>”Police beat some of them; some were deported from Russia,” Chupik said.

>Bishkek-based rights defender Aziza Abdirasulova also told RFE/RL that Central Asian migrant workers in Russia had found themselves under restrictions and checkups after the terrorist attack.

>Several Kyrgyz nationals told RFE/RL by phone on March 24 that they were detained on their arrival to Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport and were being held in the airport’s detention center along with scores of Central Asian citizens, of which at least 11 were Kyrgyz citizens.

>”They put us in some kind of jail. They did not answer our question about the reasons for the detainments. Our documents are in order, but those who came to Moscow for the first time were not allowed to enter the country. There are guys from Tajikistan, Uzbekistan among us. The authorities took away our telephones…. They forced us to sign some papers,” one of the detained Kyrgyz nationals told RFE/RL.

As you know, people from the Caucasus and Central Asia occupy a second/third class citizenship within Russian society. Today, the Kyrgyz, Tajiks, and Uzbeks are being targeted, beaten, some being forced to sign papers, maybe being sent off to the front lines in Ukraine, who knows. Tomorrow, there could be another attack/excuse, and it may be Armenians.

This should be a cautionary tale for our diaspora in Russia.