Tajik Schoolboy Killed in Moscow Area Sparks Central Asian Outrage
The fatal stabbing of a 10-year-old Tajik boy at a school in the Moscow area has sparked widespread condemnation across Central Asia. Russia’s Foreign Ministry extended “deep condolences” to Tajikistan following the killing. Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said Moscow offered immediate assistance to the Tajik Embassy in Russia after the incident was reported by the press on December 16. She confirmed that the embassy sent a diplomatic note requesting an objective investigation. Official requests were subsequently forwarded to Russia’s Investigative Committee and the Interior Ministry to clarify the circumstances and support the Tajik side. The attack occurred at Uspensky School, where a 15-year-old ninth-grade student, identified as Timofey Kulyamov, allegedly stabbed and killed the victim, Qobiljon Aliyev. Witnesses reported that the suspect asked the child about his nationality before launching the fatal attack. On the day of the incident, he was reportedly wearing a shirt bearing the phrase “No lives matter.” Qobiljon’s family moved to Russia from the Hisor region of Tajikistan four years ago. His father passed away three years prior, and his mother has been working as a cleaner at the same school to support her three children. Journalists, civil society leaders, and public figures in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan condemned the killing, linking it to rising hostility toward Central Asian migrants in Russia. Tajik political analyst Muhammad Shamsuddinov took to social media to denounce what he described as systemic discrimination. “Who killed Qobiljon? The system,” he wrote. Shamsuddinov accused Russian public discourse and policies of fueling an environment of xenophobia, referencing remarks by State Duma members, law enforcement actions, and state-run media coverage. “Qobiljon was killed by Mironov’s constant statements. By Bastrykin’s speeches. By the State Duma’s draft laws. By Russian state television. By nationalist Telegram channels. By the constant and very public raids against migrants. By hours-long detentions at airports,” he wrote. He also criticized the Russian Embassy in Tajikistan for its silence, noting that while it continued to post routine updates and commemorative messages, it had not acknowledged the boy’s death. “As a society, where is the sympathy? The condolences? Nothing,” he wrote. Sherzodkhon Kudratkhuja, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Uzbekistan National Media Association and Rector of the University of Journalism and Mass Communications, also voiced his outrage. “No mother should ever go through this. None,” he said, after reportedly watching a video of the incident. He called the murder of a child based on national identity “impossible to describe in words.” Kudratkhuja urged Russia to introduce formal education on national tolerance in its schools and criticized the normalization of ethnic slurs among adults. “Children learn from adults, and this is the mirror of today’s society,” he said. He emphasized the need to foster values of tolerance, adding that all people “descended from Adam and Eve and are equal in dignity.”
