DUSHANBE, July 21, 2016, Asia-Plus -- Reprinting of Komsomolskaya Pravda , a daily Russian tabloid newspaper, has been suspended in Tajikistan.

An article entitled “Tajikistan: from the Soviet Destitution to the Bright Future” that was posted on the newspaper’s website on July 16 tells about trip of Russian journalist Sergey Ponomaryov to Tajikistan.

Sharif Hamdampour, who is an editor-in-chief of the Dushanbe-based Tojikiston (Tajikistan) weekly and a partner of Komsomolskaya Pravda in Tajikistan, told reporters in Dushanbe today that the article contains derogatory remarks about Tajiks.

Ponomaryov’s article has described Tajikistan as a country of “Ravshans and Jamshuds,” fictional characters of Tajik migrant workers in a popular Russian comedy show, Hamdampour said.

Describing a trip on a Tajik domestic flight, Ponomaryov wrote that he “was the only Slavic face shining” among the passengers who were “all Ravshans and Jamshuds.”

“The article does not meet ethical and professional standards of journalism,” Hamdampour said.

According to him, he got in touch with the newspaper editors on the same day (July 16) and they reportedly promised to take measures over the article.             

“They said they will discuss the issue during two hours and express their opinion.  Several days have passed but still there is no response from them,” said Hamdampour.  “On July 18, I decided to suspend reprinting of Komsomolskaya Pravda in Tajikistan.”

The Tajik edition of the newspaper -- published weekly with a circulation of 5,000 -- has been popular among Russian-speakers in the capital, Dushanbe, and other Tajik cities.

Komsomolskaya Pravda has been published in Tajikistan since 2006 on the basis of bilateral agreements.

Founded on March 13, 1925, Komsomolskaya Pravda (Komsomol Truth) is a daily Russian tabloid newspaper.

During the Soviet era, Komsomolskaya Pravda was the All-Union newspaper of the Soviet Union and an official organ of the Central Committee of the Komsomol.  It was established according to the decision of the 13th Congress of the Russian Communist Party and the first issue was published on May 24, 1925, in an edition of 31,000 copies.

Amidst the collapse of the Soviet Union, on December 1, 1990 the paper shifted from serving as a Komsomol mouthpiece to a Russian nationwide daily tabloid newspaper.

Komsomolskaya Pravda reached its highest circulation in 1990 when it sold almost 22 million daily copies.  In 2001 it was the ninth top European newspaper with a circulation of 785,000 copies.  It was the top-selling newspaper in Russia in 2006 with daily circulation ranging from 700,000 to 3.1 million copies.

 

Its March 2008 circulation certified by the NCS was 660,000 copies and it was the most read paper in the country based on the findings by the TNS Gallup Media.  The same year online version of the paper was also the most visited news website.