Moscow market closure cost 100,000 jobs

More than 100,000 people lost their jobs when Russian authorities closed a sprawling market in Moscow last week, including many traders from Asian countries, a migrants association said Friday.

“More than 100,000 people lost their jobs after the closure of Cherkizovsky” Market on June 29, the president of the Federation of Migrants of Russia, Madzhumder Mukhammad Amin, told reporters in Moscow.Russian authorities have said that Cherkizovsky Market — the largest such market in Europe — must be closed for at least three months amid accusations of sanitary violations, smuggling, and the use of illegal immigrant labour.

Media reports have suggested that the closure was initiated by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s anger at the extravagant ways of Cherkizovsky’s multimillionaire owner Telman Ismailov.

Amin stressed that migrants were suffering the most from the decision to shutter the vast bazaar in northeast Moscow, with many being deprived of a place to live as well as their livelihood.“We are trying to support them. They are asking us for material help as well as moral support,” Amin told a press conference surrounded by members of his federation from Bangladesh, Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, Vietnam and Morocco.

Separately, Echo of Moscow radio reported that a soup kitchen was being set up near the closed market to provide food for migrants out of work.

- AFP