This Monday afternoon, at the exit of the Smolenskaia metro, in the center of Moscow, four men from Central Asia were surrounded by police, machine guns in hand, waiting for reinforcements.
If facial checks are legion and accepted in Russia, since the attack on Crocus City Hall which cost the lives of at least 139 people on Friday, they are increasing and generally end with an arrest.
Because of the four alleged assailants of the attack on the concert hall, three are said to be citizens of Tajikistan, a poor country in Central Asia whose Russian diaspora is the heart of Moscow.
The mayor of the capital relies on these little hands to build his metro, his cobbled avenues, there are also many Tajiks, like one of the suspected terrorists, serving as taxi drivers.
These “migrant workers”, as they are called in Russia, often live under buildings, in city underground spaces intended for municipal workers or in dormitories.
An agreement linking the two countries facilitates their work in Russia.
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