After deadly attack, Russia’s Central Asian workers report rising racism
Al Jazeera
Migrants say they are being collectively punished after Tajik nationals were suspected of last month’s concert hall attack near Moscow.
Assel Asanbayeva has worked in Russia since 2019, having arrived in Moscow from her native Kyrgyzstan in Central Asia.
She’s been a dishwasher, a waitress and a cleaner to support her two children, paying up to half her salary to an agency that links her to clients.
On March 23, she was assigned to clean a recently renovated apartment.
It was the day after the attack at Crocus City Hall, a popular music venue on the northern outskirts of Moscow, during which at least 139 concertgoers were killed by gunmen affiliated with the Afghan branch of ISIL (ISIS).
Eleven suspects were apprehended by security forces, all of Central Asian background – mainly Tajik but also one of Kyrgyz origin, who had reportedly renounced his Kyrgyzstan citizenship in 2014.
