Russia's clampdown on Tajik migrants raises economic and security risks

Tajik migrants face discrimination in Russia, denied entry, impacting economy and security, raising extremist recruitment concerns.

When Abubakr Yusufi boarded a flight to Moscow in July, he thought he wouldn't be home for years.

The 23-year-old from a small village in Tajikistan hoped to join his uncle and cousins working in construction in the Russian capital and save enough money to return home and find a bride. But Yusufi only saw Moscow from the airplane window.

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Held for six hours at Vnukovo airport, he said border authorities stamped his passport with a deportation order and put him on a plane back to the Tajik capital, Dushanbe, the next day. Reuters could not determine why he was denied entry.

"I wanted to go to Russia to earn money," Mr. Yusufi said, standing by his family's cotton fields outside Hulbuk, a district capital some 15 miles (24 km) from the border with Afghanistan.

"Now I don't know what to do."

Nearly nine months after Islamist militants from Tajikistan attacked the Crocus City Hall, a concert venue near Moscow, killing 145 people, migrant workers from Central Asia describe growing hostility towards them in Russia.