DUSHANBE, March 7, 2011, Asia-Plus — Semyon Bagdasarov, member of the State Duma (Russia’s lower chamber of parliament) said in an interview with Russian News Service on March 6 that Russian parliamentarians are going to cancel visa-free travel regime citizens of Tajikistan.
According to him, this measure is necessary to reduce drug trafficking into Russia and other CIS nations through the Afghan-Tajik border.
Bagdasarov, for some reason, considers that “uncontrollable drug-trafficking channel exists on the Pamir’s stretch of the Tajik-Afghan border.”
Russian MP says there are two options for the problem: Russia controls situation there by itself or visa regime will be imposed on Tajik nationals.
Bagdasarov also noted that introduction of the U.S. troops into Afghanistan had deteriorated the drug trafficking and terrorism situation in Russia.
It is to be noted that this is not the first time Russian MP Bagdasarov is raising the issue of imposing visa regime on citizens of Tajikistan. Russian newspaper
Nezavisimaya Gazeta
reported in July 2009 that the Russian State Duma is considering possible introduction of the visa regime with Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan – the country, through which drugs from Afghanistan transit mostly. Semyon Bagdasarov, member of the Committee for International Affairs of the State Duma, assumed that increased Russian military presence in these two countries could be alternative to a visa regime, the newspaper reported.
