RUSSIANS RESCIND INTERNATIONAL PASSPORT REQUIREMENT FOR

UNCLAS DUSHANBE 001741 SIPDIS SENSITIVE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL SMIG RS TI SUBJECT: RUSSIANS RESCIND INTERNATIONAL PASSPORT REQUIREMENT FOR TAJIKS ¶1. (U) The Tajik and Russian governments officially announced that beginning November 1, citizens of both countries may travel between Russia and Tajikistan on their internal passports. A spokesman for the Tajik MFA stressed the understanding was not an "international agreement" nor would it create "international legal obligations" for either state. ¶2. (U) This decision reverses Russia's May 2005 policy requiring Tajiks, and other citizens of former Soviet republics, to have an international passport to enter the Russian Federation. Between 500,000 and 800,000 Tajik citizens work in Russia, and wage remittances are conservatively estimated at $500 million, almost a quarter of the GDP of Tajikistan. ¶3. (SBU) COMMENT: When the passport requirement was implemented, it presented an enormous challenge for the hundreds of thousands of Tajiks already in Russia without the proper documents. Not only does the policy reversal eliminate a bureaucratic burden for migrant workers, a critical source of income, it demonstrates Rahmonov's increasingly close cooperation with Moscow. END COMMENT HOAGLAND NNNN