Russian officials swiftly ascertained that the four individuals charged with carrying out a lethal terror assault on Moscow’s Crocus City concert hall last week were natives of Tajikistan, a former Soviet nation in Central Asia.Videos of the police savagely beating and holding the accused attackers surfaced on Russian social media channels in the hours following the attack. One of the videos seemed to show a suspect having part of his ear severed and then shoved into his mouth. According to police, the men were migrant workers in Russia with either temporary or expired visas.
Russians are understandably shocked and saddened by the attack. But in the days since, that emotion – combined with the disturbing videos – appears to have unleashed a wave of xenophobia from some towards Central Asian migrant workers in general.A torrent of abuse has also reportedly been directed towards a barbershop in the city of Ivanovo, where one of the alleged attackers worked. The owner of the shop told Russian journalists that her phone had been ringing “non stop” with death threats, and is quoted by a Russian daily newspaper, Moskovsky Komsomolets, as saying, “I’m pregnant and I don’t know what to do. I’m afraid to go outside.”
As a consequence, Russian President Vladimir Putin now finds himself in an increasingly delicate position with regard to migrant workers, who occupy vital roles in the Russian workforce — particularly while the country is at war.Migrants from the former Soviet Union’s Central Asian states — Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan — have traditionally been a valuable source of cheap labour in Russia.
Generally, they’ve occupied the jobs that many Russians feel are beneath them, such as taxi drivers, truck drivers or supermarket workers. The money they send back in the form of remittances has been an important driver of growth in their home countries.
But many now feel under threat. A well-respected lawyer and migrant activist, Valentina Chupik, told CNN that calls from migrants in Russia asking for legal assistance had skyrocketed from 150 per day before the attack to over 6,000 in total as of Saturday, and that “those numbers are changing with every passing minute.”Chupik, a native of Uzbekistan who now lives and works in Illinois, runs an NGO focusing on migrant welfare called Tong Jahoni. Her organization offers legal assistance to migrants looking for help in Russia, only on a pro bono basis. She told CNN that the police are clearly cracking down on migrants, but believes the attack in Moscow is being used as cover, exposing a darker side to society.
“The police are trying to pretend that they are actively fighting ethnic crime and preventing terrorist attacks. Actually, they’re robbing migrants. I have dozens of complaints about migrants being stopped by police, and (the police) have stolen whatever they liked,” she said.Human Rights Watch, in their annual world report said that “Russian police continued to racially profile non-Slav migrants and ethnic minorities and subject them to unsubstantiated ID checks and detentions, often prolonged, in inhumane conditions. Some have been physically assaulted”.
Temur Umerov, an expert on Central Asia at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center in Berlin, told CNN that Moscow’s war in Ukraine has been accompanied by a rapid growth of xenophobia in Russian society, particularly among people who see themselves as Nazis, or neo-Nazis. “It gave them permission to speak their mind freely and not be shut down or criticized by other parts of society because they’re fighting for Russia … whether it’s online, whether it’s on the real front (in Ukraine),” he said.
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