Asian Express Company is expected to resume bus service between Tajikistan and Russia, which has been closed since March 2020.
According to information posted on the Asian Express official page on Instagram, the company intends to resume bus route from Dushanbe to Moscow beginning on June 2, 2022.
An official source within the company says ticket for this bus route currently costs 1,000 somonis, “but the price may change depending on demand.”
“Currently, not all nationals of Tajikistan can use this bus route, because Russia has not yet opened its land borders to citizens of Tajikistan,” the source added.
Mostly labor migrants use this bus route to get into Russia.
The Russian Embassy in Dushanbe had earlier explained which of citizens of Tajikistan can get into Russia by land.
Getting into Russia by land is possible only if there are documented grounds for entry (this does not apply to those with Russian citizenship):
• the presence of close relatives – citizens of Russia;
• entry to close relatives in need of care;
• participation in the State Program for voluntary resettlement to the Russian Federation of compatriots living abroad, etc.
Meanwhile, Russia decides to refuse to pay pensions to guest workers due to lack of money in the budget.
The State Duma (Russia’s lower chamber of parliament) has denounced the agreement on pension guarantees for citizens of the CIS countries, which has been in force since 1992. The decision was formalized as a federal law.
Russia will withdraw from the agreement on January 1, 2023. The explanatory note says that this will save the budget of the Pension Fund of Russia (PFR).
Instead, Russia will switch to bilateral agreements with the CIS countries. New documents were reportedly already signed with Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.
Payments on them will be carried out after the denunciation, that is, from next year. In addition to these countries, the CIS includes Azerbaijan, Moldova, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Ukraine was also one of the parties to the denounced agreement.
Under the new agreements, the length of service received in the territory of the CIS member states will be summed up, and each of the countries will pay only its part, in accordance with pensions in its territory.
The cancellation of the previous agreement will not affect the current pensioners in any way; the PFR will continue to pay them pensions in full.
