DUSHANBE, October 17, Asia-Plus - Some 4,700 Tajik citizens have been deported from the Russian Federation this year, Anvar Boboyev, the head of the State Migration Service, said.

According to him, all those deported were detained by Russian law enforcement agencies due to violation of residence procedures on Russian territory.  He added that over the mentioned period, 2,700 Tajiks have been deported from Moscow alone.  “However, compared to last year a number of those deported this year is much fewer,” Boboyev said, noting that last year, some 17,000 Tajiks were deported from Russia.   “Decrease in number of deported Tajik migrants is an evidence of successful work of our service to raise the awareness level of labor migrants,” the migration service head said.  

Boboyev noted that over the past nine months, Russian authorities have returned to Tajikistan 201 bodies of labor migrants. 

According to official data, at present some 400,000 Tajik labor migrants are staying in the Russian Federation.  “Another 100,000-120,000 Tajik citizens have been given residence permit, and many of them have already taken the Russian citizenship,” Boboyev said.