DUSHANBE, February 25, 2012, Asia-Plus – An article by Tom Balmforth entitled “Putin”s Unlikeliest Supporters: Tajik Migrant Workers” that was posted on Radio Liberty’s website on February 24 notes that despite the fact that the problems facing the Tajik and other Central Asian communities in Russia have metastasized under Vladimir Putin”s 12-year rule, a period where nationalist sentiment has thrived, tajik migrant workers support Putin”s bid to return to the Kremlin for a third term.
Karomat Sharipov, the head the Moscow-based Tajik public association, says as many as 90 percent of Tajik migrant workers in Russia support Putin.
In an effort to galvanize this backing, Sharipov reportedly organized a congress of the Tajik Diaspora on February 11 in which he called for those holding Russian passports to vote for Putin in the March 4 election.
The article says that according to some official estimates, 700,000 Tajik citizens are legally registered to work in Russia, but rights workers say for every legal worker there are two more working illegally. Sharipov estimates there are 2 million Tajik citizens living in Russia in total.
Their fealty to Putin has several sources, analysts say. Part of it stems from the fact that the prime minister and presidential candidate has cultivated a strongman image similar to that of many Central Asian rulers.
Moreover, with so many Tajik migrant workers in Russia illegally, members of the community understand that their compatriots” well-being is largely dependent on the Kremlin”s goodwill, and are thus reluctant to rock the boat. Community leaders, therefore, are vigilant about doing the authorities” bidding.
Andrei Grozin, director of the Moscow-based CIS Institute for Central Asia and the Caucasus, says support for Putin is “widespread” among the Tajik Diaspora in Russia, adding that this stems from several factors, but the main one is their vulnerability, which leaves them “100 percent dependent on the authorities.”
At the time of the pilot scandal that took place last November, there were widespread fears in the community of mass deportations of Tajiks. And although this never happened, such a move would have been catastrophic for Tajikistan, where remittances from Russia account for around half of the country”s GDP.
The support for Putin has manifested itself in some curious ways. Journalists have noted, for example, the disproportionate presence of Tajik migrants at pro-Putin rallies recently.
And earlier this month, an online video of a man calling himself “Tolibjon Qurbonkhonov from Tajikistan” singing a heartfelt ode to Putin — calling him a “godsend” who saved Russia — went viral.
Ms. Gavhar Jourayeva, an ethnic Tajik attorney who heads the Moscow-based support group Migration and Law, says she personally supports Putin — as do many of her colleagues. She adds that it”s largely pragmatism that drives many Tajiks to back him.
Many Tajik labor migrants working n Moscow also say Putin is the most worthy candidate for them.
The other candidates running for president on March 4, like Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov and ultranationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky, have done little to win the support of Central Asians in Russia. And billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov, who is running as a liberal alternative to Putin, has said he would impose a visa regime on Tajik migrants.
