Kyrgyzstan Again Tells Citizens: For Now, Don’t Go to Russia

Kyrgyzstan has again urged its citizens to avoid travel to Russia if possible, citing media reports of “the mass refusal of entry” and saying people should wait until Russia lifts tighter security measures at its border points. Kyrgyzstan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs “recommends that fellow citizens who do not have compelling reasons to travel to the Russian Federation temporarily refrain from traveling to its territory until the previously introduced additional security measures and the regime of enhanced control of entry across the state border are lifted, and if they need to leave, check in advance for any restrictions on entry to the Russian Federation,” according to a ministry statement on Thursday. The ministry issued a similar call to delay trips to Russia days after gunmen killed more than 140 people at the Crocus City Hall on the outskirts of Moscow on March 22, leading to a backlash of suspicion, harassment and violence in Russia towards Central Asian migrants. Several of the detained subjects were from Tajikistan, which last weekend urged its own citizens to skip travel to Russia “unless absolutely necessary,” amid concerns about hundreds of Tajik nationals who were being held in unsanitary conditions at detention facilities in Moscow airports. Russia has sought to ease tension with Tajikistan, saying anti-terrorism measures were being implemented and that Tajik citizens had not been targeted for mistreatment. Fissures in its relationship with Tajikistan are extremely rare. Russia has also tried to mollify Kyrgyzstan over a Russian police search of the Moscow apartment of a Kyrgyz diplomat last month.