Uzbek MPs hit back at Russian deputy’s xenophobic remarks

Uzbek MPs have hit back at a Russian counterpart over his remarks that opening schools for Uzbek migrants’ children in Russia could lead to the country’s “destruction”.

Russian MP Mikhail Delyagin was reacting to Uzbekistan’s request to the Russian government to allow the opening of private schools for Uzbek labour migrants’ children.

The proposal was made by the Uzbek presidential administration official Kakhramon Kuranbayev at his meeting with deputy speaker of Russian State Duma Vladislav Davankov earlier in October, according to official Russian media. It was proposed that the teaching programme at such schools would be in line with Russian law.

In an interview with Govorit Moskva (Moscow Speaking) radio station on 20 October, Delyagin said that the opening of such schools would amount to “discrimination” against Russian citizens.

He described the proposal as “a deliberate policy aimed at ruining and destroying Russia and creating foreign enclaves, which will eventually turn into enemy enclaves”.

Delyagin added that Uzbekistan should build schools “only on its own territory”, and should “take back its citizens, which it has pushed out to Russia”.

The Uzbek parliament’s deputy speaker Alisher Kadirov has said in response that “if everyone in Russia treats Uzbeks and the Uzbek language like Delyagin, we should treat the Russian language in Uzbekistan in the same way”.

“If teaching Uzbek at Russian schools means discrimination against the Russian nation, is teaching Russian at schools in Uzbekistan means discrimination against the Uzbeks?” he asked on his Telegram channel.

Uzbek MP Bobur Bekmurodov said that the initiative to set up schools for Uzbek children in Russia was “normal for any country that cares about its citizens”.

“There was no intention of doing anything in breach of Russian laws,” he said in a video post on his Telegram channel.

He added that Uzbek migrants in Russia do “honest jobs there” and “contribute to the Russian economy”.

Bekmurodov said that Delyagin’s accusations were “serious” and show that Uzbekistan should be “vigilant” in its relations with Russia.

“Comrade, Mikhail Delyagin, if, as you say, labour migrants are able to destroy a country as big as Russia, you should concern yourself with issues of strengthening your country’s statehood,” Bekmurodov added.

There are an estimated 1.45m Uzbeks working in Russia, making up 42 percent of all foreign labour migrants there, according to the 2022 figures.

Separate schools for Uzbek children in Russia could protect them from widespread xenophobia in Russia and make sure they do not forget their own language.

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