Protests Are Taking Place In Tajikistan Against The Visit Of Russian Comedian Galustyan
- 30.09.2026, 11:23
Activists believe that he insulted the Tajik people.
TAS International Group, which plans to build the tallest building in the capital of Tajikistan, announced that Russian comedian Mikhail Galustyan will be a guest at today’s gala dinner for the company’s clients and partners. This announcement sparked protests on social media. The reason is that from 2006 to 2011, Mikhail Galustyan starred in the comedy series “Nasha Russia.” He played Ravshan, a Tajik migrant worker. Activists advocating for migrants called the TV series an insult to Tajiks, according to “Echo”.
“If a person has become the face of a character that many Tajiks perceived as a humiliating caricature of our migrant workers, wouldn’t it be natural to at least once speak out publicly about this? To explain one’s position. To acknowledge that behind that funny TV character lay the fates of real people!”—wrote journalist Zulfi Nazarova on Facebook.
“I don’t know if this is marketing blindness or some form of identification with the aggressor. You can believe as much as you want that it was just 2000s-style humor and ‘nothing personal.’ But if you’re launching a massive, high-profile project in Dushanbe and building an event around it centered on prestige, scale, and the new modern capital, it’s strange not to ask yourself a basic question: what cultural associations does this particular guest evoke for the local audience?” — said journalist and human rights activist Mahpora Kiromova.
Tajik poet Isfandiyor Nazar called on the Tajik Ministry of Foreign Affairs to cancel Galustyan’s visit. According to him, a person who “insulted our people” should not be allowed to visit Tajikistan.
TAS International Group was founded by the St. Petersburg-based company “Algorithm of Life,” owned by two former Russian soccer players — Viktor Faizulin of “Zenit” and Oleg Samsonov of “Krasnodar.” The construction project for the “Dushanbe International District” business cluster, featuring a 360-meter-tall tower, is being implemented under an intergovernmental agreement, with the investment volume estimated at approximately $1.5 billion.