DUSHANBE — Tajik authorities are investigating media reports that say at least two Tajik nationals were involved in a shooting spree at a military training base in Russia over the weekend that left at least 11 Russian men dead and at least 15 wounded.
The Tajik Interior Ministry told RFE/RL in a written statement on October 17 that “Tajikistan’s embassy in Moscow is trying to clarify whether or not Tajik citizens were involved in the deadly shooting.”
Meanwhile, relatives of a 24-year-old Tajik man, Ehson Aminzoda, told RFE/RL that Russian authorities had identified him as one of the men who opened fire on October 15 during military training near the Russian city of Belgorod, near the border with Ukraine.
Ehson Aminzoda’s older brother, Firuz, who resides and works in Moscow, told RFE/RL on October 17 that Russian authorities had informed him that his brother was identified as one of the shooters.
“The Military Prosecutor’s Office [in Moscow] have summoned me. Yesterday, I was informed about what happened. We do not know how he ended up in Belgorod. My brother was not a terrorist, nor did he have such thoughts. He was an ordinary migrant who wanted to work and build his life,” Firuz Aminzoda said.
Firuz Aminzoda added that his brother moved to the Russian capital from his native village in Tajikistan’s south seven months ago.
According to Firuz Aminzoda, Ehson, who also worked at a Moscow restaurant, was last seen near Moscow’s Lyublino metro station on October 10, after which he went incommunicado.
He emphasized that Ehson was not a Russian citizen, and, therefore, was not eligible for the military mobilization that Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on September 21 to support his ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
Ehson’s father, Tajiddin Aminzoda, confirmed to RFE/RL that his son died in Russia over the weekend, but declined to give any comments or details.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said on October 15 that “two citizens of a member of the Commonwealth of Independent States” opened fire at a military training ground in the Belgorod region, killing 11 and wounding 15 military personnel. The attackers were shot dead by return fire, it added.
Some reports quoting witnesses said that three Tajiks were involved in the attack and that one of the attackers had managed to escape.
According to the reports, the shooting started amid tensions sparked by a conflict between Muslim soldiers and a unit commander who “insulted their religion.”
Putin’s mobilization has sparked protests, attacks on recruitment offices, and the flight of huge numbers of men out of the country.
On October 15, a military commissioner at an enlistment center in the city of Partizansk in Russia’s Far East was found dead “near a fence.”
Local authorities gave contradicting reports, saying that Roman Malyk died of a heart attack and that investigators later looked into the possibilities of murder or suicide. Meanwhile, local reports quoted witnesses as saying that the man was found hanged on the fence.
Last month, a man shot and severely wounded another military commissioner in the Siberian city of Ust-Ilimsk to protest against the mobilization.
On October 14, Putin said the mobilization will end in two weeks as more than 220,000 men had been mobilized through the call to fight in Ukraine.
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