Uzbek labor migrants stuck in Abkhazia demand to be allowed to return home

Labor migrants from Uzbekistan stuck in Abkhazia due to the pandemic are holding a rally and demand to be allowed to return home.

This is not the first rally of Uzbek citizens working in Abkhazia.

At the Psou checkpoint on the border with Russia, more than a hundred labor migrants staged a rally demanding that the Russian and Uzbek authorities resolve the issue of their return to the homeland.

Since the pandemic began to close borders and stop air and rail connections, about two thousand Uzbeks have been stuck in Abkhazia and cannot leave.

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Starting at the end of March this year through August 1, the Russian-Abkhaz border was closed to everyone. In the last month of summer, restrictions on crossing the border were canceled, but the relaxations only affected citizens of Abkhazia and Russia – citizens of other states are still not allowed to cross.

The authorities of Abkhazia do not pose any obstacles to the citizens of Uzbekistan to leave the country. However, Russia does not give permission to let them onto its territory, and official Tashkent is also in no hurry to negotiate with Moscow a transit corridor through Russian territory for the return of its fellow citizens temporarily residing in Abkhazia.

Meanwhile, Uzbek workers complain that due to the pandemic, the economic situation in Abkhazia has significantly deteriorated, which is why many of them have lost their jobs and now have nothing to live on.

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