Kyrgyz government seeks probe into “humiliating” abuse of migrants in Russia 

The Kyrgyz government is seeking an investigation into a video showing Kyrgyz and other Central Asian migrants being abused during a police raid in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg. 

The video in question showed nine men walking in a squatting position in single file, with their hands on the shoulders of the person in front of them. The men are wearing hard hats and construction uniforms, and the action takes place at what looks like a construction site. The men are watched over by a man in a black uniform and a balaclava.   

The video was widely shared by Central Asian news and public channels. 

The Kyrgyz Foreign Ministry said three of the men in the video were Kyrgyz nationals, according to media reports. 

The men were made to squat as “a restraining measure” because some workers attempted to escape when the construction site was raided by the police, the Ministry said.  

It said the country’s consulate in Yekaterinburg “is taking measures to ensure an inspection by the Russian supervising authorities about the legality of using such methods that humiliate the human dignity of working people”. 

It added it was also seeking an investigation by the central Russian authorities “in order to prevent such actions in relation to workers from Kyrgyzstan”.  

The Kyrgyz parliament’s international affairs and migration committee has also demanded that those responsible for “abusing” Kyrgyz and other Central Asian migrants be brought to account. 

Russian law-enforcement bodies have recently been carrying out widespread raids against labour migrants, forcing those with Russian passports to sign up for miliary service. Non-naturalised migrants are offered a Russian passport in exchange for signing up to fight in Ukraine.   

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