Tajik Embassy Blasts Russian Manual For Labor Migrants

An illustration from the controversial manual

Tajikistan's embassy in Moscow is harshly criticizing the publishers of a controversial manual on labor migrants to Russia, calling the document a "provocation."

The embassy released a statement expressing the hope that Russia's law enforcement structures would "seriously investigate the unacceptable behavior of the manual's publishers to prevent similar incidents in future."

Last week, prosecutors in St. Petersburg started preliminary investigations into the manual's illustrations, which depict labor migrants from Central Asia as tools like hammers, brooms, and paintbrushes.

In the illustrations, they are met at the airport by real human beings wearing the uniforms of Russian customs officials and border guards.

Russian human rights activists have criticized the booklet, calling it humiliating and offensive.