Central Asian migrant workers stranded in Russia
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Moscow — Thousands of migrant workers from Central Asia are stuck in Russia because of travel bans, leading some to rely on money from home in a painful reversal of one of the biggest remittance flows in the world.
“We’re up to our ears in debt,” said Tolib, a 26-year-old unemployed security guard, who was on his fourth unsuccessful attempt at waiting for information outside the Tajik embassy in Moscow’s upmarket Patriarch’s Ponds district. “We have to pay for rent, food and travel, and we have nothing to live on.”
The labourers have been stranded without work in Russia since the Kremlin closed borders in March due to the pandemic. Many are running out of money after a global economic slump sapped demand for jobs in the construction and services sectors usually filled by about 4.4-million migrants.
Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, which depend on money sent home from Russia for more than a third of annual GDP, have been two of the biggest victims of a remittance crisis that swept the globe in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. A World Bank survey in May found that more than 40% of households in Tajikistan have cut down on food consumption as a result, while Kyrgyzstan is receiving emergency funding from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Before the pandemic Tolib would send more than half of his $500 monthly salary to his mother and two brothers in the Tajik capital of Dushanbe, keeping the rest to cover rent, bureaucratic fees and food. After he lost his job in March, his family had to wire him $200 but it barely lasted a month.
Russia has been slower to restart international flights than other big destinations for foreign labourers such as the US and Germany. The Tajik embassy started repatriation flights in June, but suspended the waiting list in July after thousands of people applied to go home, according to its website.
Residents of other former Soviet republics have also faced difficulties. About 400 Azeris clashed with police in southern Russia as they attempted to cross the closed frontier, and a group of Uzbek workers set up makeshift camps near the border with Kazakhstan as they waited to go home, local media reported.
The World Bank estimated that the amount sent home globally from migrant workers would slump 20% this year, the sharpest decline in recent history. Europe and Central Asia will be hardest ...
“We’re up to our ears in debt,” said Tolib, a 26-year-old unemployed security guard, who was on his fourth unsuccessful attempt at waiting for information outside the Tajik embassy in Moscow’s upmarket Patriarch’s Ponds district. “We have to pay for rent, food and travel, and we have nothing to live on.”
The labourers have been stranded without work in Russia since the Kremlin closed borders in March due to the pandemic. Many are running out of money after a global economic slump sapped demand for jobs in the construction and services sectors usually filled by about 4.4-million migrants.
Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, which depend on money sent home from Russia for more than a third of annual GDP, have been two of the biggest victims of a remittance crisis that swept the globe in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. A World Bank survey in May found that more than 40% of households in Tajikistan have cut down on food consumption as a result, while Kyrgyzstan is receiving emergency funding from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Before the pandemic Tolib would send more than half of his $500 monthly salary to his mother and two brothers in the Tajik capital of Dushanbe, keeping the rest to cover rent, bureaucratic fees and food. After he lost his job in March, his family had to wire him $200 but it barely lasted a month.
Russia has been slower to restart international flights than other big destinations for foreign labourers such as the US and Germany. The Tajik embassy started repatriation flights in June, but suspended the waiting list in July after thousands of people applied to go home, according to its website.
Residents of other former Soviet republics have also faced difficulties. About 400 Azeris clashed with police in southern Russia as they attempted to cross the closed frontier, and a group of Uzbek workers set up makeshift camps near the border with Kazakhstan as they waited to go home, local media reported.
The World Bank estimated that the amount sent home globally from migrant workers would slump 20% this year, the sharpest decline in recent history. Europe and Central Asia will be hardest ...
