Eurasianet says Tajikistan has come knocking again at the Kremlin’s door in a bid to restore transportation links interrupted by the coronavirus pandemic.
Russia is reportedly may be using the moment to pressure Dushanbe into considering membership in its Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU).
Prime Minister Qohir Rasoulzoda last week visited Moscow with the specific aim of easing life for labor migrants currently in Russia and those wishing to go there.
The 17th session of the Tajik-Russian intergovernmental commission for trade and economic cooperation took place in Moscow on February 8-9. Talks reportedly focused on improving access for Tajik agricultural produce to the Russian market.
In light of the improvement in the sanitary and epidemiological situation in Tajikistan, Russia was invited to consider the issue of the present resumption of aviation links between the two countries, according to the Tajik MFA information department.
According to Eurasianet, the Tajik government’s desperate urge to persuade that its health crisis is over has one important target in mind: Russia. Remittances from labor migrants usually account for anywhere around one-third of the economy. The pandemic battered that pillar of the economy in 2020.
Moscow, however, is not taking Tajik claims on its COVID-19 victory at face value. The Russian government has said its Rospotrebnadzor health watchdog will undertake a visit to Tajikistan to assess the country’s epidemiological situation.
Eurasianet notes that the question of how Russia is handling the resumption of flights is also not encouraging. Connections with countries like Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Belarus have returned to something like normality, although the coronavirus situation in those countries is far from ideal. Denying Tajikistan the same privilege looks like a calculated snub.
Of course, the difference between those countries and Tajikistan is that they are all members of the EAEU.
Kremlin-friendly media has strongly hinted that changing this state of affairs would be Dushanbe’s best chance of avoid inconveniences now and in the future.
Tajikistan is in the unenviable position of having to choose between two short straws: either locking itself into a trading club for which it has shown no enthusiasm or seeing its migrant laborers continue indefinitely to endure hardship and humiliation.
