DUSHANBE, January 8, 2009, Asia-Plus -- Two officers of the Ministry migration service representative office in Russia are currently in Astrakhan to probe into the situation facing Tajik nationals there, the MFA information department head Davlat Nazriyev said in an interview with Asia-Plus.

“According to information received, from the Ministry migration service representative office in Russia, the transportation police department at the railway station Aksaray in the Astrakhan region instituted 23 criminal proceedings against Tajik nationals that were removed from the Moscow-Dushanbe in Astrakhan over the past two weeks on suspicion of having forged note on crossing the Russian border in their passports on the provisions of Article 327, Part 3 of Russia’s Penal Code,” the MFA spokesman said.

According to him, the Astrakhan transportation police department is currently investigating cases of 12 Tajik nationals who face document forgery charge.  Besides, materials are currently being prepared for instituting 10 other similar criminal proceedings.

We will recall that in a statement released on January 7, the Tajik Embassy in Moscow denied information posted on website of the Moscow-based Tajik public association, Tajik Labor Migrants, about detention of 50 Tajik nationals in Astrakhan that are now allegedly held as hostages by an organized criminal group as “false and aimed at discrediting the embassy.”