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Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has sent an official note to Russia’s Foreign Ministry regarding an incident in which a Russian man insulted an Uzbek taxi driver in the Moscow suburb of Khimki. The note requests that the man be identified and held accountable under Russian law, according to MFA spokesman Akhror Burkhanov.
He said that the Uzbek side regularly monitors media and social networks and, when such incidents are discovered, engages with the relevant authorities of foreign states.
“In particular, an investigation is underway into the incident that caused a wide public outcry in August. In connection with this, an official note was sent to the Russian MFA,” Burkhanov said.
He stressed that citizens of Uzbekistan are under the protection of their state regardless of where they reside.
The video of the incident was published on August 27 by the Telegram channel TRT in Russian. The footage shows a man shouting at a taxi driver, using insults and obscene language, at one point calling him a “slave of Russians.” The taxi driver, trying to remain calm, urged the man to stop, then got behind the wheel and drove away. According to witnesses, the conflict arose because the taxi blocked a courtyard entrance while waiting for a garbage truck to pass.
That evening, Burkhanov’s channel posted a reminder that Uzbek citizens are protected by their state wherever they are and should contact the country’s diplomatic missions abroad if their rights or freedoms are violated.
