![Detained illegal migrants from Uzbekistan stand behind bars of their cell at the police station in Kazan railway station in Moscow on January 24, 2012. Xenophobia in Russia is on the rise, according polls. [Andrey Smirnov/AFP]](/cnmi_ca/images/2018/12/03/15601-000_dv1107977-739_416.webp)
TASHKENT -- A wave of violent attacks on Uzbek and Tajik migrants living in Russia is raising concerns about rising xenophobia and targeted aggression against those who look "non-Slavic".
In one recent incident, an angry passenger stabbed Uzbek taxi driver Sherzod Astanayev, 34, in February, Novaya Gazeta reported November 10.
According to Astanayev, the passenger berated him about his ethnicity throughout the trip and yelled a slur when he suddenly stabbed Astanayev in the forehead.
Astanayev recovered and the case went to trial, but "the traditional Russian game began", Novaya Gazeta reported.
![Seventy-one Uzbek labour migrants who suffered various difficulties in Russia arrive in Tashkent October 12. [Uzbek Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations]](/cnmi_ca/images/2018/12/03/15584-04-14-739_416.webp)
Seventy-one Uzbek labour migrants who suffered various difficulties in Russia arrive in Tashkent October 12. [Uzbek Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations]
![Relatives greet labour migrants returning to Tashkent on October 12. The Uzbek government paid for their flights from Moscow. [Uzbek Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations]](/cnmi_ca/images/2018/12/03/15583-02-25-739_416.webp)
Relatives greet labour migrants returning to Tashkent on October 12. The Uzbek government paid for their flights from Moscow. [Uzbek Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations]
"The investigators lost all the recordings from the surveillance cameras, except for one (which, of course, could not see anything), and the prosecutor's office stated that there was no attempt to kill anyone, let alone from ethnic hatred," wrote Novaya Gazeta, including the text within parentheses.
The attacker walked free.
"A new wave of aggression against people with non-Slavic looks" is sweeping Russia, according to the newspaper, adding that sociologists have recorded "a sharp increase in xenophobia among Russians over the past year".
Making matters worse, the Russian media report such incidents with exaggerated neutrality, calling them "everyday disputes", it said.
Violence grows
In another incident, a 20-year-old Uzbek man was killed November 22 on Prospekt Mira in Moscow, Fergana News reported, citing Russian news agency Interfax.
A group of young men with knives stabbed him to death.
In yet another case, a 38-year-old Tajik man, Ilkhomuddin Shoyev, died at a police station in Moscow on November 21 under suspicious circumstances.
Shoyev had been working in Moscow while his wife and children remained at home in Tajikistan, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) reported November 28.
Shoyev was buried November 27 in his native village of Bakhoriston.
Shoyev supposedly died of heart failure, according to Moscow police. But his body bore traces of a severe beating, his father told RFE/RL.
Tajik Interior Minister Ramazon Rakhimzoda urged his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Kolokoltsev, to personally oversee the investigation into Shoyev's death, in a message posted on the ministry's website November 28.
Rising xenophobia
For Uzbeks and Tajiks residing in Russia, discrimination is commonplace and the violent attacks are not surprising.
"Of course I have faced xenophobia in Russia," Abdumalik Fattakhov, an Uzbek cook in a St. Petersburg restaurant, told Caravanserai. "You don't have to go far. You can open any newspaper with tenant-wanted ads, and they'll say, 'Only for Slavs.'"
"It is very difficult to find housing, so we often rent from ... the diaspora or from other migrants," he said. "But we try not to pay attention to such things."
A poll this year by the independent Russian think-tank Levada Centre showed an increase in negative views towards Central Asians.
In July 2017, 19% of polled Russians said the number of Central Asians permitted to live in Russia should be limited. This year, 25% agreed.
To a question that omitted nationalities, "Should the flow of labour migrants be limited?", 67% responded positively this year, compared to 58% last year.
Helping migrants return home
The Uzbek government is working to assist labour migrants who find themselves in a difficult situation -- financial, legal or otherwise -- in Russia.
On October 12, Minister of Employment and Labour Relations Sherzod Kudbiyev met a group of 71 such migrants at the airport in Tashkent as they returned from Moscow.
The migrants had run into financial difficulties, which regularly beset foreign-born workers in Russia when dishonest employers refuse to pay them.
An Uzbek government agency formed in July, the Foundation for the Support and Defence of the Rights and Interests of Citizens Working Abroad, brought back the 71 Uzbeks.
Uzbekistan and Russia in September reached an agreement to repatriate 1,500 Uzbek labour migrants now being held by the Russian Interior Ministry for various reasons.
But Russia's policy towards labour migrants remains contradictory, according to Valerii Khan, an Uzbek political scientist based in Tashkent.
"On the one hand, under pressure from society, Russian politicians want to limit the flow of migrants into the country," he told Caravanserai.
"But on the other hand, they use the need of residents of Central Asian countries for extra pay abroad to justify their imperial ambitions," he said, referring to Russia's goal of keeping Central Asian countries economically dependent and to satisfy Russians' preference to have other nationalities do low-status work.
Creating new opportunities
The Uzbek government is also working to create opportunities for returning labour migrants amid the waning economic attractiveness of Russia and the unstable exchange rate of the ruble.
Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev October 17 signed the law "On Private Employment Agencies", which abolished the state's monopoly on the employment of citizens abroad. Now, private companies may send employees to work abroad.
The law aims to streamline the market for employment services, including labour migration, thereby creating new opportunities for the private sector, according to the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations.
It also enhances protection of the rights and freedoms of citizens working in Uzbekistan and abroad.
In another step expected to help protect the rights of migrants more effectively, Uzbekistan on November 27 joined the International Organisation for Migration.
There are Kharyps and Uzbeks; these are two different nations even though they look alike
Reply71 Comment(s)
No one invited you here, you filthy wogs
Reply71 Comment(s)
I see the things other way around.Someone here [the site admin]is trying damn hard to demonize the Russians ,moreover the site has been specifically designed for those White House henchmen to discriminate the population of the Russian Federation in the face of their CIS neighbours. End of story.
ReplyYes, yes, yes. Trump and Obama are throwing mud at the Russian Nazis. You are good people. You are not occupiers. The Tajiks and Uzbeks are killing themselves.
ReplyGFY
71 Comment(s)
The thing is that Russia is a fascist and chauvinistic scum country to its core.
ReplyOh really? And who says this? A US Nazi?
Reply71 Comment(s)
I hate Uzbek and Tajik drivers in Moscow. I've ended up in traffic accidents with them twice. The first time one jerk confused the pedals, second time another one started backing up at the intersection and hit a car. I am really "lucky" with these morons. There's no insurance; the van is a lemon
Reply71 Comment(s)
"In one recent incident, an angry passenger stabbed Uzbek taxi driver Sherzod Astanayev in February. According to Astanayev, the passenger berated him about his ethnicity throughout the trip and yelled a slur when he suddenly stabbed Astanayev." He was probably asking about SERGEY CHUEV killed by the Tajiks in June. Everything was swept under the rug! That's how Putin appreciates you, the Tajiks! THERE WAS NOT A WORD ONLINE HOW [THEY] PUNISHED YOU FOR THAT, bastards!
Reply71 Comment(s)
The attitude toward non-Russians at airports is systematic. Who do you RUSSIANSTERS think you are? The whole world does not recognize you [as a world power], so you are hamming it up [humiliating people] at home.
ReplyMy dear, but whatever we think of who we are, it's our home!!! Or isn't it?
ReplyThe Tajiks often say online that everything the Russians have in Russia is their flats and the rest belongs to NO ONE!!! Do you perceive the world adequately?
Russia is a country where 90% of people are Europeans. You need to understand that!
Then why do you go to Russia and make it a mess???? Stay home; you will gain more respect.
ReplyWhy don't you take your Russians out of Tajikistan?
ReplyNo one except Russians considers you Europeans. Central Asia has always respected and was grateful to Russians, but you can be aggressive and arrogant! Openly Nazi movements are a norm for you! You kiss European arses all the way. You want to be like them and with them, but Europeans treat you like you treat "wogs", albeit they are more refined and humane; otherwise, it is the same attitude and opinion! It's a boomerang.
Reply71 Comment(s)
That's normal because immigration policies are bad. It makes more sense here to hire immigrants than [Russian citizens]. Immigrants make salaries plummet; [these hiring practices] should be banned. Immigration policies need to be changed. First of all, living conditions must be improved for Russians. Kindergartens are overcrowded because of [immigrants]. Salaries are low. What is there to be happy about? They barely speak Russian; their religion is different. They should go to Chechnya.
Reply71 Comment(s)
Hi everyone! Russia has always had this situation. It is a fact that religious, praying Muslims deceive their compatriots in their home country. "Brovni khakini evoti". He doesn't pay for work. This situation is deteriorating rapidly. That's why everyone has to leave Uzbekistan - specialists and working-class men alike. And the country does not protect its citizens' rights. Everything goes to the state while the people get nothing. So don't be surprised that it also happens in places outside Uzbekistan. Although, labour is appreciated and paid for there [in general].
Reply71 Comment(s)
Fascism has reared its head in Russia
Reply71 Comment(s)
Russians are turning into Nazis little by little and this is obvious.
Reply71 Comment(s)
Why doesn't the state where these people live provide decent jobs?!
Reply71 Comment(s)
good
Reply71 Comment(s)
These dirty swines Russkis should be killed. What an abominable nation, ungrateful scum
ReplyWhy do you say it like this?
ReplyYou are a dirty swine yourself. Maybe you should be killed. You scum. I don't know your ethnicity. But this is too much. Why don't the admins here address these nationalistic potshots. Although Shitserai has been stoking ethnic strife for a long while. Everything published here is bollocks ordered by Americans.
ReplyRussia is a country where many ethnic groups live, but we respect each other! We have Buddhists here too, so it's not about religion. We all go to the same schools, grow up watching the same cartoons and films. But people are coming here who don't speak Russian and possibly have no education. Moreover, they are filthy and always behave strangely. Why???? It should be banned. Salaries are low because of them. Crimes are increasing. They separated [from Russia], so live on your own, but [you act] as if Russia owes you something. No, we owe you nothing.
Reply"These dirty Russki swines should be killed. What an abominable nation, ungrateful scum." This is exactly what you are DOING - and doing in Russia.
ReplyWhat is it we should thank you for?
And what you should thank the Russkis for?
71 Comment(s)
A real Russian who respects himself and his people will not respect other peoples that way. Presidents must find a common way out of this situation. It is necessary to remember that a Slav and a Muslim have the same God, the same home and the same hopes for the future.
Reply71 Comment(s)
Kolokoltsev, Yury Chaika, Bastrykin should be fired, they are involved in corruption, but Putin trusts them [Vladimir Kolokoltsev, Russian minister of interior; Yury Chaika, Prosecutor General of Russia; Alexander Bastrykin, head of Russia's Federal Investigative Committee]
Reply71 Comment(s)
Muslim brothers, why do you need Russia if they deny you even menial jobs? Let Russians do all this work themselves. We, Kazakhs, don't work in Russia, they pay the same salaries we have here and moreover one should work for the good of his country. If you want to make good money, go to Korea or the USA and work as truck drivers. There you will find Uzbek, Kyrgyz, even Kazakhs who also have enough work here at home. And you will not come across this ubiquitous ill feeling towards you and Russian chauvinism
ReplyI support your words
ReplyOh yes, you all go there please.
ReplyNo need to say Please
Reply71 Comment(s)
Screw thr Russian Federation. Russians don't care about us. We need [to turn towards] Europe, they are glad to see us
Reply71 Comment(s)
Thanks to Tajiks and Uzbeks the police at railway stations and airports, especially Domodedovo [International Airport, Moscow], are improving their financial standing. They are robbing these folks shamelessly.
Reply71 Comment(s)
SLAVS WHO INSULT AND KILL MUSLIMS WILL ANSWER TO THE ALMIGHTY ALLAH AT THE END TIMES
Reply71 Comment(s)
I have personally encountered Russian fascists wearing shoulder boards in Ryazan
Reply71 Comment(s)
Those pig Russians never accepted us as human beings
ReplyYou are not human, you are just a swine
ReplySays the swine
Reply71 Comment(s)
Then there will be a payback and ill treatment of Russians in Central Asia.
ReplyNationalism of Uzbek people is dead. And if Russians will spit on their faces they (Uzbeks) will thank them… Nationalism of the Russians in Uzbekistan at height lately, they do not respect Uzbek nation and language at all
ReplyPutin will stand up for us!
ReplyPutin is a well-respected president, but we have our own beloved president Emomali Rakhmon. And one more thing: don't insult each other, we are all humans!!!
ReplyA payback? You have been driving Russians out since the 90s. What would be [with you] if the whole Russia paid you back? You would go down to the Middle ages without jobs and money from Russia.
ReplyWeak laws, low [levels of] social responsibility, poor education, ill-breeding, rudeness, brutality, anarchy, and corruption - THIS IS RUSSIA
Reply71 Comment(s)
Why are Russia and Russians always at fault? We don't come to you. Demand jobs and a decent life from your president. You wanted independence, didn't you? So, sort out your problems independently
ReplyRussians, we will annihilate you all
ReplyRussia will drown in its own shit if there is no more workforce from CA. You better thank those who do your job that you are not willing to do... When your grandfathers were f..ed, they for whatever reason, neither asking questions nor feeling remorse came to Tashkent for bread and home, so what? [Uzbeks] invited, fed them, gave their own clothes and whatnot... And to this day if a guest comes he is welcome appropriately whoever he is... Those like you are indeed the chauvinists this article is about. Scumbag
ReplyIncredible!!! You've got so brazen!!! It is Russian kindness that led you to such brazenness?!! Tell me, what did you give the Russians? Do you want me to tell you how much you received from Russia and the Russians, and how much Putin is giving you now all the time, taking it directly from the Russians' pockets?
ReplyIt is Putin who is giving you jobs in Russia! Succumbing to requests from various Rakhmons-makhmons, he is slowing down the development of Russia - the country of white Europeans - for you, subhumans! Live in your early Dark Ages! You are insolently making your way here, demanding social payments, pensions, the capital ... Who in Russia has to give it to you? Allah? Or did Russians earn it?
If I offer you Russian citizenship, you will grab it right away! And you are not going to say a word about things you wrote here!
There are decent Uzbeks and Tajiks. They work hard and earn money. But there are junkies driving lemons and getting involved in traffic accidents. Those should be driven out of Russia.
ReplyThey have dual citizenship on top of that. And come here to give birth and make a buck. What, ss that not cool? They can't even dream about something like that back home.
ReplySiberia is not a country of white european. Neither the far east
Reply71 Comment(s)
Russia is the prison of nations (Caucasian, Turk, Finno-Ugric peoples, Indigenous peoples of the North). Russian has a higher status than indigenous languages even in the republics [of Russia], let alone the descendants from the Central Asian republics. They are treated like they are less than human there.
Reply71 Comment(s)
Sad
ReplyRussian chauvinism
ReplyThey are notorious Nationalists, Hitler and his Germany were no match for them
ReplyWho invited you to Russia? If you don't have an invitation, what are you complaining about? Uninvited guests!
ReplyYour politicians and law enforcement live off migrants
Reply71 Comment(s)
I have lived in Russia for 16 years, and I can explain why people are writing that they will rent apartments only to people with Slavic looks. During last 8 years many of our people swindled landlords by not paying or causing havoc, that is why Russians lost their trust in people from Central Asia, so you cannot blame them in xenophobia…
ReplyRight words. There are good and bad people in every nation
ReplyI rented my apartment out to Uzbeks. I treated them humanely and helped their kids get into daycare. Those bastards stole the furniture, paid nothing for two months, trashed the apartment, and disappeared. From now on I consider them slant-eyed bastards. I will never let these wogs in again.
ReplyI rented out to Russians. They left behind the stench of their Russian spirits and vodka. No way am I going to let these dirty swine and alkies in again. Not for the world
Reply71 Comment(s)
What xenophobia are you talking about? There are a plethora of stories about successful migrants. They are well-settled in Russia, they make good money. And all these 'facts' you cited in the article are merely run-of-the-mill violence any Russian could have encountered as well.
Reply71 Comment(s)
Yet another American paid-for article, it's nothing new.
ReplyThis is a real fact. It is not made to order. It is accurate. Neonazism and bigotry at it‘s height in Russia. They are most nationalist, separatist nation.
ReplyWe will be learning English and other languages day and night, praying not to end up in Russia
ReplyCut this rubbish. If we were nationalists Russia would have collapsed long ago. So, to the contrary, we get along with other ethnicities in our country well. Look at Ukraine. What a bright example of what happens if Nazis are let loose. Therefore [Ukraine] has no future. This sub-country is moving toward disintegration.
ReplyWe will be just happy, trust me.
Reply71 Comment(s)
[You] noticed the final one percent increase - from 98% to 99% and now no one has a way to hide this problem of "ill feeling towards non-Slavs", be it government agencies, showbiz, Russian elites, mass media or the majority of citizens of the formerly great Russia. Sad!
ReplyFucking tired of Russians? Without these so-called Russians Central Asians would be riding donkeys to this day. Who built factories in the Soviet Union? Russians!!! Uzbekistan once turned away from Russia, there were almost no Russian there... So what??? It was over. Everything. Corruption, dollar black market, back-slapping all over the country, covering up truth for the "bosses" and so on and and so forth [were rampant]. Now that [Uzbekistan] and Russia are friends and the dollar looks like in every civilised country, and the people are waking up and the TRUTH of the East begins to surface.
ReplyUzbeks don't appreciate the culture of the country they come to, but expect Russians treat them good...
What a nonsense ))
ReplyWhat else would one expect from these wogs? As soon as the [Soviet] Union collapsed they had started kicking Russians out of the country, taking away homes. They had demonstrated their rotten mentality. Hence the conclusion: no need to build anything for them, no credit lines - let them live the way they always lived in their villages without normal education (many of them read only one book - the Quran - and believe that's good enough). There are also lots of Islamic extremists among them, they should not be allowed into Russia, otherwise they would launch terror attacks right away. And it is nonsense that Russians can't do anything without them. We did before and lived just fine.
ReplyStalin did kill all non-Russian peoples, Lenin killed them, Khrushchev killed them, Brezhnev killed them, Gorbachev killed them, Yeltsin killed them, now Putin is killing them. I don't get it. Are they the lords of the world? Is it like all the others are not human enough except for the Russians? May Allakh conquer you!
Reply71 Comment(s)