DUSHANBE, November 14 (Itar-Tass) — Members of Tajikistan’s national parliament hope the situation around the two pilots of the Russian airline Rolkan “will be settled via diplomatic channels and the misunderstanding that has emerged will be eliminated,” Shukurjon Zuhurov, the speaker of the lower house said Monday at a meeting of the parliament’s council.
The speaker’s press secretary, Muhammadato Sultonov quoted Zuhurov as saying the latter man had decided to set up workgroups for familiarization with the situation, in which Tajik labour migrants find themselves in various regions of Russia, and with their legal status there.
After that, members of the workgroups will hold consultations with their Russian counterparts.
Regarding the plight of the pilots whom a court in the city of Kurgan Tyube has sentenced to 8.5 years in jail, Zuhurov voiced the Tajikistani government’s official position. He said that the trial over the two men had been held “with strict observance of the national legislation.”
He recalled however that “Russia and Tajikistan are strategic partners and they should settle all the emerging problems at a conference table.”