Radio Liberty’s Tajik Service, known locally as Radio Ozodi, reported yesterday that Tajik authorities are investigating media reports that say at least two Tajik nationals were involved in a shooting spree at a military training base in Russia over the weekend that left at least 11 Russian men dead and at least 15 wounded.
The Tajik Interior Ministry told RFE/RL in a written statement on October 17 that "Tajikistan's embassy in Moscow is trying to clarify whether or not Tajik citizens were involved in the deadly shooting."
Meanwhile, relatives of a 24-year-old Tajik man, Ehson Aminzoda, told RFE/RL that Russian authorities had identified him as one of the men who opened fire on October 15 during military training near the Russian city of Belgorod, near the border with Ukraine.
Ehson Aminzoda's elder brother, Firouz, who resides and works in Moscow, told RFE/RL on October 17 that Russian authorities had informed him that his brother was identified as one of the shooters.
"The Military Prosecutor's Office [in Moscow] has summoned me. Yesterday, I was informed about what happened. We do not know how he ended up in Belgorod. My brother was not a terrorist, nor did he have such thoughts. He was an ordinary migrant who wanted to work and build his life," Firouz Aminzoda said.
Firouz Aminzoda added that his brother moved to the Russian capital from his native village in Tajikistan's south seven months ago.
According to Firouz Aminzoda, Ehson, who also worked at a Moscow restaurant, was last seen near Moscow's Lyublino metro station on October 10, after which he went incommunicado.
He emphasized that Ehson was not a Russian citizen, and, therefore, was not eligible for the military mobilization that that was announced in Russia on September 21 to support the ongoing so-called “special military operation” in Ukraine.
