US embassy cable - 05DUSHANBE1741

UNCLAS DUSHANBE 001741 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, PREL, SMIG, RS, TI 
SUBJECT: RUSSIANS RESCIND INTERNATIONAL PASSPORT REQUIREMENT FOR 
TAJIKS 
 
 
1.  (U) The Tajik and Russian governments officially announced 
that beginning November 1, citizens of both countries may travel 
between Russia and Tajikistan on their internal passports.  A 
spokesman for the Tajik MFA stressed the understanding was not 
an "international agreement" nor would it create "international 
legal obligations" for either state. 
 
2.  (U) This decision reverses Russia's May 2005 policy 
requiring Tajiks, and other citizens of former Soviet republics, 
to have an international passport to enter the Russian 
Federation.  Between 500,000 and 800,000 Tajik citizens work in 
Russia, and wage remittances are conservatively estimated at 
$500 million, almost a quarter of the GDP of Tajikistan. 
 
3.  (SBU)  COMMENT:  When the passport requirement was 
implemented, it presented an enormous challenge for the hundreds 
of thousands of Tajiks already in Russia without the proper 
documents.  Not only does the policy reversal eliminate a 
bureaucratic burden for migrant workers, a critical source of 
income, it demonstrates Rahmonov's increasingly close 
cooperation with Moscow. END COMMENT 
 
HOAGLAND 
 
 
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