DUSHANBE, March 19, 2013, Asia-Plus – “Moscow will not introduce a visa regime for nationals of Tajikistan,” Tajik Ambassador to the Russian Federation,” Abdulmajid Dostiyev, told the
Ozodagon
news agency in an interview on March 18.
According to him, some politicians in Russia have raised this issue “just for the purpose of wining more points.”
Tajik diplomat expressed confidence that Russia will not introduce the visa regime for Tajikistan and other Central Asia’s nations “because this will estrange Russia from Central Asia and will weaken its positions in the region.”
We will recall that the Russian Foreign Ministry”s Ambassador-at-Large, Anvar Azimov, has also denied reports by some Russian media sources regarding Russia”s possible plans to introduce a visa regime for Central Asians as baseless.
“Russia has never had plans to introduce a visa regime for citizens of Central Asia’s countries,” he told Asia-Plus in an interview on March 15.
According to Russian special envoy, his TV interview was strongly misrepresented and his answer to the question about the visa regime “was taken out of context.”
Some Russian media outlets have reported that Anvar Azimov told the independent TV channel
Dozhd
on March 13 that that Russia”s current visa-free regime with Central Asia will likely end around 2015.
Meanwhile, Azimov says he meant that citizens of Central Asian countries would be allowed to enter the Russian Federation only with passports for traveling abroad instead of internal passports after 2014.
A number of State Duma (Russia’s lower chamber of parliament) lawmakers have been lobbying for the introduction of visas for citizens of Central Asia’s nations, saying this will help curb drug trafficking.
