Opposite: – He wants respect

President of Tajikistan, Emomali Rahmon, spared no expense during a speech at the summit of leaders of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in Astana, Kazakhstan on Friday.

In the speech, which was discussed by several media, including News week And Business InsiderRahmon is said to have asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to treat Tajikistan with respect, and not as a former Soviet state.

The SUS is made up of nine of the 15 states that previously made up the Soviet Union.

He wants respect

– We are not between 100 and 200 million inhabitants, but we want to be respected. Did we violate something? Did we greet each other inappropriately? says Rahmon according to Newsweek, adding:

– Vladimir Putin, I ask you not to pursue a policy towards the countries of Central Asia as if they were the former Soviet Union.

The Tajik dictator, who has ruled the country since 1994, continued:

– Why should we beg Russia to participate in a miserable forum in Tajikistan? I have given instructions to the State Department, I have also spoken to you about asking Russia to participate at least at the ministerial level. No, at the level of deputy ministers. Is this what Tajikistan, a strategic partner, deserves?

Open criticism

In recent weeks, Putin has received open criticism from several supporters, including India and China. Both countries were important supporters during the war in Ukraine.

In September, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi told Putin that “it was not the time for warWhich is a direct critique of the Russian war in full public view.

– I know today’s era is not a glorification of war and I told you about it on the phone, Modi said, according to Reuters.

Modi’s harsh criticism was noted as India was previously neutral during the war, in part because Russia was the country’s largest arms supplier.

During the September summit in Uzbekistan, Putin also told Chinese President Xi Jinping that he understands their questions and concerns regarding the war in Ukraine.

– You have to stop lying

Also recently joined Andrei Kartapolov, head of the defense committee of the Duma strong criticism of its own president. The Duma is the lower house of the Russian National Assembly.

In a conversation with Vladimir Solovyovwho was portrayed on television as Putin’s favorite, pointed the finger at daily war updates from the Russian Defense Ministry.

– They have to stop lying. We have talked about it several times. But she somehow she never reaches the senior leaders, she told her in the session, that she was discussed by both of them. The evening paper and the independent Russian online newspaper Jellyfish.

Kartapolov is a powerful ally of Putin and served in the Soviet and Russian military from 1980 to 2021. When he retired from the army, he held the rank of lieutenant colonel.

From 2018 to 2021 he was Deputy Minister of Defense of Russia and from 2021 he is a member of the Duma, where he heads the Defense Committee.

In the interview, Kartapolov compared the flow of information from the Russian Defense Ministry to how the Soviet leadership lied about the reality on the battlefield during World War II.

– But people understand – and that’s the problem. People are not stupid. They are far from stupid. They understand that it is clearly not deemed necessary to tell them some, if not all, of the truth. Not good at all, he said.