Russian President Vladimir Putin listened in surprise as his Tajik counterpart on October 15, emomaly wombhe asked, in an angry voice, more respect for countries Middle Asia. “We are not 100 or 200 million people, but we want to be respected,” he said forcefully. He then insisted on asking him not to “follow a policy of relations with the Central Asian countries as if they had been”. Former Soviet Union“.
He stated that since Dushanbe they “always respect the interests of Tajikistan’s biggest trading partner (Russia)” and that “stans” just want “to be treated in the country”. same way More than African countries or any other”. Although he understands that “too much money” should not be invested if he wants to encourage investments in the region.
Confusion among the rest of the leaders
speech and especially ton surprise locals and foreigners. The other leaders present did not know how to react. Turkmen leader Serdar Berdimuhamedov Surprised In the words of Rahmon. Shavkat Mirziyoyev (Uzbekistan) and Kassym-Jomart Tokayev (Kazakhistan) bay poker face Kyrgyz leader Sadyr Japarov chose not to do this. look up from your desk. Putin listened to Rahmon’s words without really knowing where to look.
In addition to talking about relations between the two countries, the Tajik president also reminded that many of his compatriots are foreigners. Study In Russia. In major Russian cities it’s common to see Central Asian immigrants bring home food like ‘like’.riderson building for clearing snow with large shovels on new buildings or in the middle of winter, even on roofs where there are not always safety measures. In addition, they tend to have a bad image among a significant portion of Russian citizens; rental ads floors.
In many Russian cities there is a “” label.only slavswho discriminate against both themselves and the inhabitants of the Caucasus. Russian Army, Threats to take Russian citizenship from Central Asia, as evidenced by the law approved on September 24, which speeds up procedures for expropriating those who have spent a year in the Armed Forces, or who refuse to join the army. This measure will also affect their families.
turbulent waters
Russia has recently medal To the Tajik president. But this is not enough to relax Relations in Central Asia. At the moment, relations between Moscow and its partners in this part of the world are not at their best. Kyrgyzstan recently It is cancelled Joint maneuvers of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) scheduled for 10-14 October on its territory.
In this military alliance led by Russia, there are other former Soviet countries such as Russia. Kazakhstan, Belarus, Armenia and Tajikistan. After the border clashes between the second state and Kyrgyzstan, which resulted in the death of dozens of people, relations with Turkey did not go well. Bishkek An award given by Moscow to the Tajik leader, who was seen as an invader in the 2022 conflict.
Kazakhstan in its name fear The Russian attack in Ukraine and the words of some official voices give them reason to have it. Moscow Duma deputy Sergei Savostyanov in March urged Kazakhstan to “Naziize” along with Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova and Poland. One of Moscow’s arguments for attacking Kiev was precisely to “seaize” the country. During September there were even some rumors that Astana could leave the military alliance in 2023. official source confirmed this information.