The four suspected gunmen under arrest are all citizens of Tajikistan, a Central Asian nation that was once part of the Soviet Union. Following the Crocus City attack, Russian police started rounding up and deporting workers who are originally from Tajikistan, as well as from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
The attack, which Russia has blamed on Ukraine, also sparked massive police raids, document checks of migrants as well as the harassment of Central Asian immigrants. There are an estimated 10 million migrant labourers from Central Asia living in Russia, according to the Russia’s Interior Ministry. Central Asian migrants have seen Russia’s recent labour shortages, the result of conscription and the Ukraine war, as an opportunity to find work.