Mass beating of Tajik students by FSB underscores Central Asian reality in Russia

DUSHANBE -- Tajiks are reacting with outrage and concern after a mass beating at a university in the Russian Far East served as a pointed reminder of how Russian society rejects Central Asians.

On May 19, personnel from Russia's riot police (OMON) and Federal Security Service (FSB) burst into a dorm at Komsomolsk-na-Amure State University in Khabarovsk territory and beat up more than 100 Tajik students, according to multiple reports.

The university had a different story, one that Tajiks dismissed out of hand after decades of experience with Russian cover-ups.

A fight broke out when immigration police conducted status checks on Tajik students after one of them was arrested in connection with charges of financing terrorism, the university rector said May 23, according to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL).

However, RFE/RL's Tajik service cited an anonymous source whose version circulated on social networks and various websites: the OMON and FSB personnel stormed unprovoked into the dormitory in the middle of the night and singled out Tajiks for beatings by checking their documents.

The assailants "switched off [surveillance] cameras" in advance, which suggests premeditation, according to the source.

"Perhaps the raid was intended to intimidate Tajiks and show them their place," Abdumalik Kodirov, a Tajik political scientist, told Caravanserai.

RFE/RL's source described the fear and sense of helplessness that the Tajiks experienced.

"The officers were masked and armed with pistols and stun guns," the source said. "Anyone who asked why he [or she] was being beaten received an additional blow."

More than 100 Tajik students were injured, some seriously, RFE/RL's Tajik service reported May 24.

After the raid on the dormitory, police detained large groups of Tajik migrant workers throughout Russia.

Outrage but no satisfaction

Tajik officials reacted with outrage, even though such abuses in Russia routinely go unaddressed.

Tajik Interior Minister Ramazon Rakhimzoda telegraphed his Russian counterpart Vladimir Kolokoltsev with an urgent request to investigate the matter. The Tajik Foreign Ministry summoned the Russian ambassador for discussions.

Umed Bobozoda, the United Nations human rights commissioner in Tajikistan, asked Russian ombudswoman Tatyana Moskalkova to look into the beatings in Komsomolsk-na-Amur and the mass arrests of migrant workers.

Given the Tajik rejection of the university rector's claim of a fight breaking out between police and students, Tajiks are left to wonder why OMON and the FSB stormed a dormitory full of sleeping students.

Such an assault "cannot happen without an order from above", Tajik political scientist Bakhtiyor Khamdamov told Caravanserai.

Security and police personnel in Russia always extort money from "immigrants, especially Central Asians", he said.

They are being aggressive now because in recent years, they "didn't get enough bribes", he theorised.

The pandemic that began in 2020 and the resulting lockdown drastically reduced migrants' income.

Rampant racism

Police with "neo-Nazi tendencies" feel validated by bigoted Russian politicians, said Khamdamov.

Those politicians include Sergey Mironov, leader of the A Just Russia faction in parliament, who advocates instituting a visa regime with Central Asian countries that have not joined the Russian-dominated Eurasian Economic Union (EEU or EAEU).

"There is obviously increased nationalism in political circles, leading to more frequent calls by MPs to protect the country from Central Asians," agreed Sirojiddin Izzatulloyev, a Tajik political scientist and editor-in-chief of Digest, a news weekly.

"Nationalism is not far from Nazism," he added.

"Unfortunately, quite a few Russians are infected with xenophobia," Russian journalist Igor Rotar told Caravanserai. "Interestingly, they hated the Jews at first but now hate the 'darkies'."

Media coverage encourages Russians to hate and despise Tajiks, as a cursory glance at recent articles reveals. Stories about migrants routinely highlight Tajiks who happen to be drug dealers, terrorists, extremists or repeat offenders.

Russians commenting on an article on the Tsargrad website about the Komsomolsk-na-Amur beatings made their hatred clear.

"They sell weed and the like throughout Russia," posted Olga Vanyushkina.

"Only the garbage comes to us," said Alexei Pyalkin.

To Tajiks, such attitudes smack of ingratitude, given how hard migrants work in Russia.

"Russian journalists show little interest in how much housing Tajiks build for Russians, how many patients are treated by Tajik doctors, who does the dirty or menial work to make Russian cities clean and well-groomed, how many fruits and vegetables Tajikistan supplies to Russia each year, or the amount of textiles Tajikistan provides to Russian industry each year," Sharifjon Salimov, a Khujand-born migrant worker, told Caravanserai.

"I personally saw that many [Tajiks] offered their apartments for free when many Russians fled to Tajikistan during the first draft," he said, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin's order last September to draft 300,000 men to fight in Ukraine. "But they treat us like servants."

Parents of Tajik students in Russia are expressing anxiety about their children's safety.

"Our children ... chose Russian universities, believing they would live and study there comfortably and perhaps remain to work. Now we worry about them," Kobila Pulatova of Isfara, whose children study in Siberia, told Caravanserai.

"I have not slept and have been worried these many nights. And, naturally, I will continue to worry until [my son] graduates from the university and returns to his homeland," said Gulchekhra Malikova, also of Isfara.

Russia bullies Tajikistan

Russian authorities, struggling with a war gone horribly wrong in Ukraine and with staggering casualties, want someone to pay for their mistakes, say Tajik observers.

Tajikistan, poor and dependent on Russia as an employer of migrant workers, fits the bill.

More than 20,000 Russian troops and mercenaries were killed in Ukraine just since December, the US government estimated May 1.

To Russian officials searching for cannon fodder, Central Asians who became naturalised Russian citizens look like tempting targets.

They perceive those newcomers as users of citizenship's benefits who shirk its obligations, said Kodirov the political scientist, adding that such officials refuse to admit that few men are eager to conquer foreign territory rather than defend their own country.

The beatings in the dormitory and the arrests of migrants elsewhere could be meant to signal to Tajikistan the price of straying from Russia's agenda, say some.

Russia wants Tajikistan to "know that a lurch towards some other superpower, even its ally China, could result in consequences", said Kodirov.

Russia cannot afford to irreparably offend Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, said Kodirov, but it can bully the almost completely dependent Tajikistan and make an example of it.

"As far as I understand, this [mass beating] happened on the eve of a meeting of the [EEU]," said another Tajik political scientist, Bakhtiyor Sherov, referring to the Russian-led bloc that Tajikistan still has not joined.

The anti-Tajik violence of recent days is "an extra reminder of the situation the country might find itself in if migrants are expelled and Tajik youth are barred from university studies", he added.

Central Asian countries have to break out of their dependence on Russia, said Kodirov. "To do this, it is essential to develop processes of integration among themselves and to find new labour markets."