A group of Tajik nationals claim they are being forced to "work as slaves" on a remote cattle farm in Russia's Far Eastern Magadan region for an employer who has taken away their passports to prevent them from leaving.
Two of the migrants who contacted RFE/RL said they don't know the exact name of the location where they work, describing it only as a "farm in a forest, far from the city."
Their situation brings to light the wider vulnerabilities of Central Asian migrants in Russia, many of whom rely on unofficial agreements and are exploited and abused.
"We are forced to work here during the nights. We come to the farm at 7 p.m., when darkness falls, and [then] work here until the morning," said one of the men, speaking on condition of anonymity out of fear of reprisals. "We have been working here for three months but we don't get paid, and when we ask for money, the employer scolds us."
Basic Facilities
The two men shared a video of what they described as their workplace -- an old cow barn in an area covered by snow. More footage they provided to RFE/RL shows what seems to be a dilapidated kitchen-dining room, sparsely furnished with a few benches and a table covered with a plastic tablecloth.
Speaking to RFE/RL by phone on December 12, one of the migrants said the group of 10 men from the southern Tajik district of Hamadoni traveled to Magadan after an "acquaintance" from their home village promised them well-paid work there.
"He brought us here and introduced us to the employer, telling us we will get free food and free accommodation and that we will be paid 20,000 rubles (around $190) each in the first month and 30,000 rubles (around $290) starting the second month," the migrant said. "But, so far, during these three months, we have only been paid once -- 20,000 rubles each."
According to the migrants, the owner of the farm took their passports on the day they arrived, saying he would apply for work and residency permits on their behalf. They said he has not returned their documents.
Only two of the men had valid work permits before coming to the farm, the men said, adding their right to a 90-day visa-free stay in Russia was about to expire.
Exact numbers are hard to ascertain, but at least 1 million Tajik migrants work in Russia, many of them engaged in physically demanding jobs in factories, construction sites, and the agriculture sector.
'No Food'
RFE/RL contacted the farm owner, whose name and phone number the migrants provided, for comment but did not receive any response. Authorities in Magadan Province did not answer phone calls from RFE/RL.
It is not clear whether the men signed work contracts with their employer. It is not uncommon for Tajik migrants, especially those who come to Russia for the first time, to find work through acquaintances and relatives who have already been living and working in the country.
Some Central Asian migrants in Russia, particularly those who work for private individuals, often reach a verbal agreement with employers instead of signing a legal contract, leaving them vulnerable to exploitation and abuse.
Some migrants prefer informal agreements so they can avoid taxes and paperwork; others end up without legal contracts because they don't understand the Russian language, the country's laws, or their own rights.
The two men who spoke to RFE/RL said they had had no food for the past three days and are "stuck in this small, cold place," where the temperatures, at this time of year, hover around minus 20 degrees Celsius (minus 4 degrees Fahrenheit).
"We are working like slaves here. We want [the Tajik authorities] to help free us," the migrants said. "We haven't eaten any food for the past three days. We survive on tea and sugar only."
The men said they have no money to buy food and cannot get their passports back from the owner to leave the farm.
Contacted by RFE/RL, Valentina Chupik, a prominent advocate for migrant rights in Russia, said the migrants' only real chance to get help quickly lies with the Tajik authorities.
"It is the duty of Russia's Investigative Committee to probe forced labor and slavery, but, in reality, it is very difficult to get the committee to deal with such cases unless somebody puts pressure on them. We know it from our experience with similar cases," Chupik told RFE/RL.
The Investigative Committee is Russia's main federal investigating authority.
"The only thing we can do is to appeal to the Tajik Embassy in Moscow...to ask the embassy to send its representatives to Magadan to get the Investigative Committee to do its job," Chupik said.
In the meantime, the migrants in Magadan said their acquittance who brought them to the farm has gone back to Tajikistan to bring more workers to Russia.
