DUSHANBE, May 19, 2016, Asia-Plus – Chairperson of Russia’s upper house (Federation Council) of parliament Valentina Matviyenko does not consider it necessary to tighten travel requirements for citizens of Central Asia’s nations.
“I do not see the necessity even to discuss the possibility of introducing visa regime for Central Asia’s nations because there is no any connection between the incident that took place at Khovanskoye cemetery and migration policy,” Matviyenko told reporters in St. Petersburg on May 19.
We will recall that the deputy head of the Federation Council Committee on Defense and Security, Yevgeny Sereberennikov, had earlier proposed to introduce visa regime for nationals of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan following a May 14 mass brawl at the Khovanskoye cemetery that involved people from Russia”s North Caucasus regions of Chechnya and Dagestan and migrants from Tajikistan and Uzbekistan working there.
The incident that left three dead and two dozen wounded was reportedly sparked by rivalry between ethnic groups battling for control of the burial service business.
