The Ombudsman appealed to a colleague in the Russian Federation and asked for help in ensuring the labor rights of Uzbek citizens living in Russia in connection with the incident that occurred recently in Yekaterinburg. Earlier, a number of media outlets reported that on January 17, law enforcement agencies and security forces conducted a raid on compliance with the migration legislation of the Russian Federation at a construction site in this city.

150 people were checked during the raid. Eight of them have violated migration laws and are subject to deportation. In addition, four who did not register for military service were handed summonses, the Telegram channel "Russian Community Yekaterinburg" reported.

Photographs and video footage provided by the public show how migrant workers are forced to kneel and walk in single file across a snow-covered area. According to some reports, the security forces forced migrants to walk like this because several of their colleagues escaped during the raid. It is not specified how many Uzbek citizens were among those being checked.

The Commissioner for Human Rights of the Russian region, Tatyana Merzlyakova, said she would look into the incident, adding that such cases are unusual for the region.

At the same time, the Kyrgyz authorities demanded an inspection after the appearance of this video with migrants in Yekaterinburg. Three Kyrgyzstanis are also present in the footage, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the country noted.

"As a result, the fact of checking the documents of 40 Kyrgyz citizens out of 150 foreigners at three construction sites in Yekaterinburg was established. No violations of migration legislation have been identified on the part of Kyrgyz citizens, and no decisions have been taken regarding their administrative expulsion from the Russian Federation," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Kyrgyz citizens refused to submit a written statement on the actions of law enforcement agencies. Meanwhile, it was noted that the authorities are taking measures to organize a check on the legality of the use of such methods of work by the security forces, "degrading the dignity of citizens engaged in labor activities."