Deputies Concerned about Russians in Turkmenistan

Nothing has been done recently to improve the situation

State Duma deputies have recalled the Russian citizens living in Turkmenistan. The international affairs committee of the lower house of the Russian parliament is going to consider the issue of the Russian people residing in Turkmenistan. Spokespeople for the foreign ministry have been invited to participate in the discussion. Why did deputies become concerned about the violation of Russian people's rights in Turkmenistan two months after the expiry of the Russian-Turkmen dual citizenship agreement? Elections are coming up. 

Russian deputies will harshly denounce the policy of the Turkmen president again. However, it will be probably the only thing that deputies will do, and Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov will continue doing strange things in his country. Nobody is going to stop him.

The CIS summit is currently opening in the Russian resort city of Yalta. President Niyazov preferred to take a short vacation and rest peacefully on the shores of the Caspian Sea. Apparently, Niyazov could not care less about the summit. The official note from Turkmenistan said: "Turkmenistan still gives the first priority to the development of bilateral relations and participation in certain economic projects in the CIS that comply with Turkmenistan's interests."

As far as the situation with Russian people in Turkmenistan is concerned, nothing has been done in recent months to improve it at least to a certain extent. Nothing is known about the perspectives of the problem either. There has been a bilateral committee established to deal with the issue, it even held a meeting once to conduct "constructive negotiations." The committee is to hold another meeting this month - probably, it will bring something new.